In this issue:

SUMMER 2009
Volume 21, No. 2
In this issue:
EDITORIAL
Moving Away from Russia — p. 2
FEATURES
Declaration of the European Council
on the Eastern Partnership — p. 3
Europe’s Last Dictatorship — p. 4
Belarus Boycotts CSTO Summit — p. 5
Promoting Democracy and Human
Rights in Belarus — p. 6
Eleven Prisoners of Conscience — p. 6
White House Statement — p. 7
ECONOMY
Zombie Economy — p. 8
Lukashenka Says He’s Ready to
Consider Reforms — p. 10
BELARUS’ FORUM
March 25 in Minsk — p. 11
Declaration of Belarusian
Democratic NGOs .. — p. 12
Role of a Government in Exile — p. 13
Opposition Delivers Its Roadmap — p. 15
SPORTS — p. 16
NEWS BRIEFS — p. 17
BELARUS ABROAD
CBS International Summer School — p. 21
Exhibition of Belarusian Posters — p. 21
Congress of New Diaspora — p. 22
Belarusian Opposition on the
Eastern Partnership — p. 22
Belarus Days in Prague — p. 23
THOUGHTS and OBSERVATIONS
A Divided Europe Reaches Out...— p. 24
New ’Pragmatism’ Backed — p. 24
From Political Front Lines to
Army Drudgery — p. 26
Protests Against Nuclear Plant — p. 28
Caucasus Impacts Russia-Belarus
Relations — p. 29
Russia Struggles to Maintain
Alliance with Belarus — p. 29
MEDIA WATCH
Press Review
’Milk War’ Strains Russia - Belarus Ties — p. 30
An (Un)wanted Guest — p. 31
Europe Betrays its Mission in Prague — p. 31
LETTERS — p. 32
EDITORIAL
Moving Away From Russia
By Jan Maksymiuk
Two important developments took place in Belarusian
politics within the space of several recent weeks.
First, on May 7 Belarus signed a document on
joining the Eastern Partnership initiative — a peculiar
"waiting room" for six post-Soviet countries that
might aspire to full-fledged EU membership in some
indefinite future.
Second, on June 14 Belarus refused to sign a
document on creating the so-called Collective RapidResponse Forces — a Eurasian answer to the sevennation Collective Security Treaty Organization of
NATO.
Both developments may seem to be more of a
symbolic than a practical significance. The Eastern
Partnership does not offer any substantial financial or
economic incentives to the post-Soviet signatories. The
Collective Rapid-Response Forces do not offer any
substantial counterbalance or pose any substantial
threat to NATO forces in Europe. But in making
his decisions on both issues, Belarusian President
Alyaksandr Lukashenka has proven in practice that
integration with Russia is not the only possible or the
only desirable option for his country. These decisions
may, in the long run, mark a turning point in Belarus's
foreign policy.
In making his recent advances to Europe,
Lukashenka had to swallow his autocratic ego. And
he did that. Brussels invited Belarus to the Eastern
Partnership but, at the same time, unambiguously
suggested that it would be deeply embarrassed if
Lukashenka appeared at the May 7 summit in Prague
in person. Mercifully, and prudently, Lukashenka
took the hint. He sent a deputy prime minister to
Prague to sign the Eastern Partnership declaration.
Lukashenka also had to withstand the Kremlin's
subdued dissatisfaction with the Eastern Partnership
before the Prague summit and the Kremlin's
untamed ire after the summit. He did not recognize
the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
before the summit. And he made an even more
unprecedented step to spurn the Collective Security
Treaty Organization after the Kremlin put economic
pressure on Belarus by embargoing Belarusian
dairy products and withholding a $500 million loan
installment.
Summer 2009
Such a behavior surely warranted a reward
from the West, and it was not long in coming. The
International Monetary Fund said in June that it will
lend an additional $1 billion to Belarus, bringing its
total loan to $3.4 billion.
Where do these developments leave the Belarusian
opposition, whose hopes for change in Belarus
were during many years anchored in the conviction
that the only efficient way for the West to deal with
Lukashenka was to isolate him?
There is no simple or brief answer to this question.
It is evident that in his domestic policies, whether
economic or social, Lukashenka is not going to
importantly diminish his grip over the country
or give a significant role in the public life for his
opponents.
But it is also evident that, at least for Brussels, the
isolation of Lukashenka is already a thing of the past.
Therefore, it would be advisable for the opposition to
make some conclusions from this less-than-expected
turnaround of Lukashenka's political fortune.
The first prominent oppositionist in Belarus to
make such conclusions was Alyaksandr Milinkevich,
who has started to campaign for Belarus' greater
engagement with the European Union, even at the
expense of some legitimization of the autocratic
regime in the international arena.
Will the others follow? Most likely, veterans of
the opposition -- for example, Barshcheuski's and
Paznyak's wings of the Belarusian Popular Front -won't be eager to make such a step. Because such a
step would mean losing their credibility and support
they still have in society.
But younger opposition activists are more likely
to side with Milinkevich's and his pragmatic political
vision.
This vision implicitly acknowledges that the
opposition is currently too weak to change the
political regime in the country. But this vision also
presumes that the opposition is sufficiently potent
to contribute to the change that is currently taking
shape in Belarus. Belarus has manifestly begun to
move further away from Russia. It would be advisable
for the opposition to help accelerate this movement,
not to hamper it.
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BELARUSIAN REVIEW
From the Publisher
FEATURES
Our publication was complimented recently by a long
time reader who is an authority in US international relations.
He views Belarusian Review as the top resource for anyone
wanting to learn about the current situation in Belarus, since
it provides both the important news and varied analysis.
It is in large part due to the generosity of our subscribers
and particularly to those who provide larger contributions
that we continue to publish. Many of the names you’ll recognize from the previous years. The following have been
especially generous so far this year:
Anatol Lukjanczuk, Alice Kipel, George and Lorraine
Kipel, Alla Orsa Romano, Peter Kasaty, Nicolas Sniezko,
Karnella Najdziuk, Thomas Bird, Maria Kiehn, Anatol
Sankovitch, John Shybut, Olga Wilson, Halina Hayda.
In order to inform and educate about Belarus a wide circle
of government officials and political leaders we appreciate
the annual contribution received from BNR Rada.
Quotes of Quarter
President Lukashenka had on June 5 an interview with
correspondents of Russian papers and magazines. It has been
published in Belarus’ official press, but has not been printed in
Russia. Selected excerpts from the interview follow:
On marketing:
“Today’s Russia has in fact closed the market for
Belarusian goods”
“... Why have you closed your market for our tractors…
why have you done that? Who needs such a “union
state”?
On Russian protectionism:
“I addressed our government and said: “If you won’t sell
sugar, you will lose your job. We found other markets and
sold this sugar”
On talks with Moscow:
The President disclosed some details of recent talks in
Moscow. He referred to Belarus’ Prime Minister Sidorski
who quoted an unnamed Russian governor: “Putin said that
if we (the Russian region) would buy anything Belarusian,
I’ll bite your head off”.
On Caucasian conflicts:
“… Do you want one more Chechnya here? I do not
want it”.
On shielding Moscow:
“Do you believe that 10 million people (Belarusians) who
are now forming a shield in front of Moscow should do it for
free? You have pumped out 10 billion dollars from Belarus
by having raised gas prices three times. And you have
loaned 2 billion dollars at exorbitant interest, while the
IMF extended credit at terms that are three times better!”
Summer 2009
Declaration of the European
Council on the Eastern Partnership
—————————————
1. Promoting stability, good governance and economic
development in its Eastern neighbourhood is of strategic
importance for the European Union. The EU therefore
has a strong interest in developing an increasingly close
relationship with its Eastern partners, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
The European Union's proposal for an ambitious Eastern
Partnership to be established with these countries serves
this objective.
The Eastern Partnership will bring about a significant
strengthening of EU policy with regard to its Eastern
partners by seeking to create the necessary conditions
for political association and further economic integration
between the European Union and its Eastern partners
through the development of a specific Eastern dimension
of the European Neighbourhood Policy. To achieve this,
the Eastern Partnership seeks to support political and
socio-economic reforms, facilitating approximation and
convergence towards the European Union. In the same vein,
the Eastern Partnership will help to build trust and develop
closer ties among the six Eastern partners themselves.
2. Work under the Eastern Partnership will go ahead
without prejudice to individual participating countries'
aspirations for their future relationship with the
European Union. The Eastern Partnership will be governed
by the principles of joint ownership, differentiation and
conditionality. Shared values including democracy, the
rule of law, and respect for human rights will be at its core,
as well as the principles of market economy, sustainable
development and good governance. Increased European
Union engagement will be in line with the main goals
of the Eastern Partnership, depending on the progress
made by individual partners. Increased financial support
in line with the Commission's proposal of €600m for the
period to 2013 will respect the resources available under
the multiannual Financial Framework, including adequate
margins.
3. There will be effective complementarity between the
Eastern Partnership and existing regional initiatives
in the EU's neighbourhood, in particular the Black Sea
Synergy. The European Council underlines the EU's
commitment to strengthen the Black Sea Synergy and to
support its implementation, noting that its focus is on
regional cooperation in the Black Sea region, whereas the
Eastern Partnership focuses on approximation and will
strengthen the links of partner countries with the EU. The
Eastern Partnership will also be developed in parallel
with the bilateral cooperation between the EU and third
countries.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
4. Bilateral cooperation under the Eastern Partnership
should provide the foundation for new Association
Agreements between the EU and those partners who
have made sufficient progress towards the principles and
values set out in paragraph 2 above and who are willing
and able to comply with the resulting commitments
including the establishment, or the objective of establishing,
deep and comprehensive free trade areas. The European
Union's Comprehensive Institution-Building Programmes
will help the participating countries to improve their
administrative capacity. The Eastern Partnership will
promote mobility of citizens of partner countries through
visa facilitation and readmission agreements. The EU, in
line with the Global Approach to Migration, should also
take gradual steps towards full visa liberalisation as a long
term goal for individual partner countries and on a case
by case basis provided that conditions for well-managed
and secure mobility are in place. The Eastern Partnership
aims to strengthen the energy security cooperation of all
participants with regard to long-term energy supply and
transit, including through better regulation and energy
efficiency. It will put at the disposal of partners the EU's
expertise in social and economic development policies.
5. The multilateral framework of the Eastern Partnership
will provide for cooperation activities and dialogue
serving the objectives of the Partnership. It should operate
on a basis of joint decisions of EU member states and
Eastern partners, without prejudice to the decision making
autonomy of the EU.
The European Council proposes to hold regular meetings
in principle once every two years at the level of Heads of
State or Government of the Eastern Partnership, and once
a year at the level of Foreign Ministers. Four thematic
platforms should be established according to the main
areas of cooperation (Democracy, good governance and
stability; Economic integration and convergence with EU
policies; Energy security; and Contacts between people).
The European Council also supports the launching of
Flagship Initiatives in order to give momentum and concrete
substance to the Partnership. The EU looks forward to an
early discussion with the partners in this regard.
Third countries will be eligible for participation on
a case-by-case basis in concrete projects, activities and
meetings of thematic platforms, where it contributes to the
objectives of particular activities and the general objectives
of the Eastern Partnership.
6. The Eastern Partnership will engage a wide range of
actors, including government ministries and agencies,
parliaments, civil society, international organisations,
financial institutions and the private sector.
7. On the basis of this Declaration, the EU will conduct
the necessary consultations with Eastern partners with
a view to preparing a Joint Declaration on the Eastern
Partnership to be adopted at the Eastern Partnership
launching summit on 7 May 2009. The European Council
looks forward to launching the Eastern Partnership as a
common endeavour with partners, being confident that
this initiative will advance the cause of good governance,
increase prosperity and strengthen stability, bringing
Summer 2009
lasting and palpable benefits to the citizens of all
participating countries.
Source: www.consilium.europa.eu, March 20, 2009
Europe's Last Dictatorship
By Jeffrey Gedmin
Minsk, Belarus -- One of the questions I was repeatedly
asked during a recent trip to the capital of Belarus was
whether the Obama administration would opt for greater
pragmatism at the expense of idealism in foreign policy.
Both the government and opposition in this country have
a vested interest in the answer. As early as next week,
the U.S. will decide whether or not to continue sanctions
against the country known as "Europe's last dictatorship."
The European Union faces fresh choices as well.
NATO sees Belarus as a potential threat to neighboring
Lithuania. Russian tanks stationed in Belarus can be in the
Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, in about 90 minutes. This small
nation of 10 million can threaten in other ways: 20% of EU
gas imports from Russia pass through the former Soviet
state.
Belarus also remains a notorious human-rights abuser.
In its press-freedom index, Freedom House ranks Belarus
188th out of 195 countries. Transparency International rates
Minsk as more corrupt than Moscow. Minsk can feel like a
time warp: Main avenues in the capital are still named after
Lenin, Marx and Engels.
On my trip, I attended a dinner with leading oppositionists
in a private room at a local restaurant. It was private except
for the two minders who were stationed about five feet
away from us. At a meeting of former political prisoners at
the U.S. embassy to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Radio
Liberty broadcasts to Belarus, I met a former trade minister
who had served two years for breaking with the regime.
Another young, charismatic businessman had spent six
years behind bars for his pro-opposition views.
The man who rules Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko,
is severe. In 1995 he had his air force shoot down a hot
air balloon that had strayed into his air space, killing two
Americans.
The U.S. and the EU need to consider two issues in their
relations with Belarus. It's only through a coordinated
approach that we'll make progress towards reform.
The first issue has to do with democratic development.
The heady days of the 1990s, when it appeared that
freedom was on the march around the world, have
given way to a decade of democracy recession. The most
troubling developments have taken place in Russia and its
periphery.
Democratization in countries such as Belarus, Georgia
and Ukraine will almost certainly help to curb Russia's
imperial appetite. Faced with neighboring democracies,
Russia would be forced to take greater stock of its affairs at
home. Garry Kasparov, the chess champion turned Putin
opponent, thinks of an inside and an outside game if you
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
want to support Russian democracy today. Mr. Kasparov
argues that the outside game — what happens in
Russia's neighborhood — may be as important as what's
happening inside Russia.
Every dictator has his Achilles' heel. For the authorities
in Belarus, theirs may be the economy. The Russians, with
whom Mr. Lukashenko has a "close but dysfunctional
relationship," as one EU diplomat puts it, have reduced
their economic support for Belarus in the last couple of
years. Moreover, Belarus has not managed to remain
immune from the global financial crisis. According to that
same diplomat, some 25% of state-enterprise employees
are now working on reduced hours. Mr. Lukashenko is in
trouble if his social pact begins to seriously fray.
What to do? The civil-society leaders I met were in
agreement that the recent release of political prisoners was
the result of U.S. and EU pressure. That pressure must be
sustained. The U.S. should consider lifting sanctions only
on the basis of strict conditionality. Washington should
not give in to the temptation to accept the return of the
American ambassador, who was expelled last March over
U.S. sanctions, as sufficient. Belarus must be pressured to
have more independent media, to investigate the cases
of missing dissidents, and to end the practice of jailing
oppositionists. For its part, the EU should insist that any
economic assistance be closely tied to political reforms and
respect for human rights.
This will be slow, tough going to be sure. But now is
exactly the wrong time for a short-sighted realpolitik
approach.
Mr. Gedmin is president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/
home-page, 29 May 2009
Belarusian President Boycotts
Moscow's CSTO Summit
By Vladimir Socor
Belarus refused to attend the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) summit in Moscow on June 14. The
summit made decisions to enlarge the size of collective
rapid deployment forces, the scope of their missions, and
the legal basis of their operations.
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka cancelled the
participation of Belarus at the last moment before the
summit; and his government is now contesting the
validity of the summit's decisions made in the absence of
Belarus. The Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, signed the
summit's documents with reservations attached, limiting
Uzbekistan's participation in future CSTO activities.
Armenia's position is not immediately clear: Moscow's
official reports do not mention an Armenian signature
on the framework agreement regarding CSTO's rapid
deployment forces (Interfax, ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, June
14).
At the concluding press conference, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev asked "the states" that have not inked
Summer 2009
the summit documents to reconsider and sign them later.
Belarus was scheduled to take over the chairmanship of
CSTO's Council of Heads of State from Armenia at this
summit, in accordance with the annual rotation in Russian
alphabetical order. With Belarus boycotting the summit,
however, Russia took over the CSTO's chairmanship "for
the period of Belarus' absence."
Adding insult to injury, Lukashenka did not personally
notify the Kremlin about his refusal to attend. Lukashenka's
office informed Medvedev's office and the Belarusian
ministry of foreign affairs informed the CSTO secretariat
on the shortest possible notice.
Moscow takes the position that Belarus' non-participation
in the summit does not invalidate the summit's decisions.
Under the CSTO's rules of procedure, a collective decision
can be blocked by an "official objection" from a member
country. Belarus had participated in negotiations on the
documents prior to the summit without registering official
objections, according to unverified claims by Russian
officials. Nevertheless, the Belarus foreign ministry note
did clearly warn that Belarus' non-participation "means a
lack of approval from Belarus of the decisions that are to be
considered" at the summit, as well as disavowal of decisions
made at the pre-summit, ministerial-level meetings, which
"consequently means a lack of consensus [by Belarus] on
these decisions" (RIA Novosti, June 14).
Officially, Minsk explains its step as a response to
Moscow's restrictive commercial measures against Belarus
and abusive practices in the energy sector. Tacitly, the
Belarusian authorities from Lukashenka on down are
loath to become involved in Russia's conflict undertakings,
whether ongoing or looming ones in the South Caucasus
or Central Asia.
The foreign ministry note complained of "overt economic
discrimination by a CSTO member country against
Belarus. Such actions undermine economic security, which
is a foundation for stability and a pillar of comprehensive
security... [Belarus' participation in the summit] would mock
common sense against the backdrop of trade wars waged
by some CSTO members against others. In this situation,
Belarus has no choice but to cancel its participation in the
CSTO summit in Moscow. Belarus will sign the package
of documents on the rapid reaction force only when
comprehensive security will have been restored within the
CSTO" (RIA Novosti, ITAR-TASS, June 14).
Last month, Russia suspended the allocation of a
promised $500 million stabilization loan to Belarus.
Lukashenka publicly complained that Moscow was
retaliating for his refusal to recognize the "independence"
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Kremlin had pressured
Lukashenka on this issue for several months, but he has all
along insisted that the loan and the recognition issue must
not be linked.
In recent weeks, Lukashenka and other officials criticized
Russia publicly for closing its markets for Belarus-made
tractors, sugar, and dairy and meat products. On the day
of the Moscow summit, Belarus state television read out an
indictment of Russian economic policies toward Belarus,
retroactive and current: "They [Moscow] turned off gas
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
supplies in winter; they suddenly introduced crude oil
export duties; they practically introduced customs control
on the border," depicting the recent restrictions on tractors,
sugar, and dairy and meat products as parts of a consistent
pattern (Belarus TV Channel One, June 14).
On June 13 Lukashenka asked the government to
consider the possibility of reintroducing border controls
on the Belarus-Russia border. On the following day the
State Border Protection Committee chief, Ivan Bandarenka,
announced that his committee and the State Customs
Committee are discussing the possible reestablishment of
border and customs checkpoints, in response to Russia's
unilateral reintroduction of 15 such checkpoints (Interfax,
June 13, 14).
Lukashenka has clashed with Moscow over economic
issues during most of his tenure as president. This time,
however, he reinforces his arguments in that debate by
refusing to cooperate with a Kremlin-cherished project on
international security. Moreover, the familiar clashes over
economic issues are now unfolding in an entirely new
context: that of Lukashenka's efforts to institute a balanced
foreign policy for Belarus between Russia and the West.
Source: Jamestown Foundation, Eurasia Daily Monitor,
Vol. 6, Issue 14, June 15, 2009
PROMOTING DEMOCRACY AND
HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS.
Foreign Relations Authorization Act.
H.R. 2140
To authorize appropriations for the Department of State and the
Peace Corps for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, to modernize the
Foreign Service, and for other purposes
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 14, 2009
Mr. BERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Section on Belarus:
(a) Findings-
Congress finds the following:
(1) Despite some modest improvements, notably the release of
political prisoners, the Belarusian Government's human rights
and democracy record remains poor as governmental authorities
continue to commit frequent serious abuses.
(2) Since 1996, President Alexander Lukashenka has consolidated
his power over all institutions and undermined the rule of law
through authoritarian means.
(3) Belarus restricts civil liberties, including freedoms of press,
speech, assembly, association, and religion. Nongovernmental
organizations and political parties are subject to harassment, fines,
prosecution, and closure. The Belarusian Government maintains
a virtual monopoly over the country's information space.
Summer 2009
b) PolicyIt is the policy of the United States to-(1) support the aspirations of the people of Belarus for democracy,
human rights, and the rule of law;
(2) support the aspirations of the people of Belarus to preserve
the independence and sovereignty of their country;
(3) seek and support the growth of democratic movements and
institutions in Belarus as well the development of a democratic
political culture and civil society;
(4) seek and support the growth of an open market economy
in Belarus through the development of entrepreneurship and
protection of property rights; and
(5) remain open to re-evaluating United States policy toward
Belarus, including existing sanctions, as warranted by
demonstrable democratic and human rights progress made by the
Belarusian Government.
(c) Sense of CongressIt is the sense of Congress that-(1) the United States should furnish assistance to Belarus to the
support democratic processes in that country, including-(A) expanding and facilitating the development of independent
print, radio, television, and internet broadcasting to and within
Belarus;
(B) aiding the development of civil society through assistance
to nongovernmental organizations promoting democracy and
supporting human rights, including youth groups, entrepreneurs,
and independent trade unions;
(C) supporting the work of human rights defenders;
(D) enhancing the development of democratic political parties;
(E) assisting the promotion of free, fair, and transparent electoral
processes;
(F) enhancing international exchanges, including youth and
student exchanges, as well as advanced professional training
programs for leaders and members of the democratic forces in
skill areas central to the development of civil society; and
(G) supporting educational initiatives such as the European
Humanities University, a Belarusian university in exile based in
Vilnius, Lithuania; and
(2) the United States should support radio, television, and internet
broadcasting to the people of Belarus in languages spoken in
Belarus, including broadcasting by Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, European Radio for Belarus, and Belsat.
Note: Rep. Howard Berman, who introduced this resolution, is
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Bill has
been passed by the full House of Representatives on June 10,
2009.
15 May 2009
Amnesty International
Public Statement
Eleven Prisoners of Conscience
On 5 May, in an unprecedented move, AI wrote to the
Prosecutor General of Belarus stating that the organization
considers 11 young people, who are currently serving sentences of restricted freedom, to be prisoners of conscience.
All of them participated in a peaceful protest in Minsk in
January 2008 and Amnesty International believes that they
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
had been sentenced to a punishment which amounts to imprisonment for peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom
of assembly and expression.
Following an unauthorized demonstration against the
introduction of a Presidential decree concerning tax and
employment regulations for small businesses, which took
place on 10 January 2008, 14 people were initially prosecuted
for criminal offenses for their participation… (Three of them
were fined or amnestied)…and the 11 remaining young
people were sentenced … for ”taking part in or organizing
actions that gravely disturb public order” and sentenced
to between one and a half and two years of restricted
freedom. (The list of the 11 names follows in AI’s Public
Statement — Editor).
The conditions of restricted freedom that are laid out in
Article 48 of the Criminal Procedural Code are so restrictive that Amnesty International considers it to be a form
of imprisonment.
”… In its letter, Amnesty International urged the Prosecutor General to immediately and unconditionally lift the
restrictions” ”… to ensure that an impartial investigation
is carried out into allegations of beating” ”… to investigate
the actions of the police officers.”
HISTORICAL DATES
June 19, 1924
Birthdate of Vasil Bykau, an outstanding
Be­la­­rusian writer and public figure. Most of
his works covered the topic of World War Two,
experienced by him as a soldier.
Towards the end of his life he was forced to
seek refuge abroad. He lived in Finland, Germany and the Czech Republic. He was forced out
of his homeland due to attacks in the state-run
press and censorship of his writings. The regime
continues to take revenge against Bykau even
after his death. Vasil Bykau’s books are not being
republished in Belarus and films about his life
and creative work are banned.
Bykau was considered for the Nobel prize
in literature in late 1990. He died on June 22,
2003.
July 7, 1882
Janka Kupala (Ivan Lucevic), a great Bela­
rusian poet, was born in Viazynka, near the town
of Maladechna.
Kupala may be considered one of the founders
of the modern Belarusian literature, whose patriotic poetry significantly contributed to Belarus’
national awakening in the 20th century.
In addition to his literary activities, he was a
valuable civic leader ,and the editor of the Nasha
Niva newspaper in the 1910s.
Summer 2009
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________
For Immediate Release, June 12, 2009
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50
U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of
a national emergency unless, prior to the anniversary date
of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal
Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that
the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary
date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the
Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating
that the national emergency and related measures blocking
the property of certain persons undermining democratic
processes or institutions in Belarus are to continue in effect
beyond June 16, 2009.
Despite some positive developments during the past
year, including the release of internationally recognized
political prisoners, the actions and policies of certain
members of the Government of Belarus and other
persons that have undermined democratic processes or
institutions, committed human rights abuses related to
political repression, and engaged in public corruption
pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the
national security and foreign policy of the United States.
For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary
to continue the national emergency and related measures
blocking the property of certain persons undermining
democratic processes or institutions in Belarus.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
June 12, 2009.
For Immediate Release, June 12, 2009
NOTICE
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY
WITH RESPECT TO THE ACTIONS AND POLICIES
OF CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT
OF BELARUS AND OTHER PERSONS THAT
UNDERMINE
DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES
OR
INSTITUTIONS IN BELARUS
On June 16, 2006, by Executive Order 13405, the
President declared a national emergency and ordered
related measures blocking the property of certain persons
undermining democratic processes or institutions in
Belarus, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706). The President took this
action to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat
to the national security and foreign policy of the United
States constituted by the actions and policies of certain
members of the Government of Belarus and other persons
that have undermined democratic processes or institutions;
committed human rights abuses related to political
repression, including detentions and disappearances; and
engaged in public corruption, including by diverting or
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
misusing Belarusian public assets or by misusing public
authority.
Despite some positive developments in the past year,
including the release of internationally recognized political
prisoners, the actions and policies of certain members of
the Government of Belarus and other persons continue
to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the
national security and foreign policy of the United States.
Accordingly, the national emergency declared on June
16, 2006, and the measures adopted on that date to deal
with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond June
16, 2009. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of
the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am
continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in
Executive Order 13405.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register
and transmitted to the Congress.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
June 12, 2009.
ECONOMY
Zombie Economy
By Siarhiej Karol
The recession has pulled the curtain back on Belarus’
unusual economic model as it limps along with cash
injections from international organizations and Russia.
On the face of it, the economic crisis could be going worse
for Belarus. Although the country went through the same
decline in production and currency pressures common
to its neighbors, it is fairing better against the regional
background. The banking system is not collapsing, as in
Ukraine, nor is there double-digit economic decline, as in
Lithuania and Latvia, nor even waves of layoffs as in Russia
– all aspects that the Belarusian government’s propaganda
machine will not fail to exploit. Yet, it has become obvious
to official Belarus and ordinary citizens that the crisis marks
a turning point not only for the economy but for politics
as well. Already, economic pressures stemming from
changed global financial conditions have led to previously
unthinkable events such as a loan from the International
Monetary Fund, talk of liberalization and market reform,
devaluation of the ruble, and even the possibility of a
political thaw between the nation’s estranged leadership
and the European Union. Today, Belarus seems to be a
strange mix of a relatively benign economic climate and a
noticeably changed political one.
NEW MODEL ECONOMY
To understand the country’s path through the crisis and
imagine its probable futures it is important to remember
just how unusual the Belarusian economic model is, once
proudly described by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka as
the Belarusian Economic Miracle. The model was inherited
from the Soviet planned system and little has changed since
Summer 2009
then. Unlike those of its neighbors, Belarus’s economy
is almost entirely state-owned, with only a thin layer of
private enterprise, mostly in the service sector. The bulk
of the country’s GDP comes from a handful of extremely
large state-owned conglomerates organized in a vertical
hierarchy ultimately managed by the president himself.
The Minsk tractor and truck factories, Hrodna and Homel
chemical producers, Mahileu agricultural equipment
maker, and most importantly the Mazyr and Navapolatsk
oil refineries represent an industrial complex built from
the 1940s to the 1970s as a Soviet version of “offshore”
manufacturing – where raw materials and parts arrive
from afar to be sent back in the form of finished goods or
refined chemicals. All that industrial might was designed
for the vast economic space of the USSR and the Warsaw
pact countries. It cannot, under any circumstances, survive
by relying solely on the domestic market. The heavy
reliance on foreign markets – exports amount to over 60
percent of GDP – puts Belarus among the top 10 most
trade-dependent economies in the world, alongside such
export kings as Singapore.
Like Singapore, Belarus also relies heavily on imports,
with a similarly high ratio of imports to GDP. Unlike
the Asian trade hub, however, the Belarusian industrial
complex lacks both savvy management and a technological
edge, not to mention being hopelessly outdated. But it
employs 4 million Belarusians and must be kept running
at the risk of a political backlash like the one that brought
Lukashenka to power in 1994. Lukashenka was elected
with a mandate of keeping the system running, and in this
respect he fulfilled his mandate. This was possible due to
his ability to preserve a deep discount on Russian oil and
gas, which are used domestically to power enterprises
and heat Belarusian homes or are turned into diesel and
gasoline for supplies to Europe.
Before the global slump, Belarus was able to export over
5 billion euros in fuel per year, sold at world prices, while
buying the raw crude at 30 percent to 50 percent below the
market price, amounting to a giant subsidy from its eastern
neighbor. Any economy would become a miracle if it were
to receive a “bailout” that amounted to 20 percent of its
GDP.
But even with that subsidy the model was already
showing signs of distress well before the financial crisis,
especially after New Year’s Eve 2006, when Russia began
implementing a program to gradually eliminate the fuel
discount. The economy moved on, however, at an impressive
rate of growth, thanks to peak prices for its petroleum
exports and peak demand for manufactured goods from
the Russian market, which itself was experiencing an oil
fueled boom. Belarusian factories were working at full
capacity in response to mounting orders from the East and
also increased production of diesel fuel for purchasers in
the U.K. and continental Europe.
A LONG-RUNNING CREDIT CRUNCH
The main problem at that time was the increasingly
pressing need to find financing to keep the pipeline
economy running. The Belarusian import-export model
is so inefficient that it was losing money even with the
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
subsidy, so that the gap between exports and imports accept the IMF loan, look for more Russian credit, and seek
grew to over 10 percent of GDP. In 2007, at the peak of friendlier political terms with Europe. The problems are
the boom, the trade deficit exceeded $2 billion, which exposed even to the economically oblivious population.
the state had to finance from abroad. Initially, financing The Belarusian model is in obvious need of repair.
was obtained from British and Swiss banks, who, in the
Hopes that such repair is immediately forthcoming,
days of global low returns on investment, were willing to however, would be naïve. For a decade and a half
provide over $3 billion in short-term financing for banks Lukashenka’s smart political management, fending off all
and enterprises despite Belarus’ very low B credit rating. predictions of imminent collapse, has kept the Belarusian
Belarusian importers received even greater loan amounts model functioning in the same space that was allotted to it
from foreign companies in the form of extending payment by Soviet central planners: as an assembly line attachment
terms or straight cash. But even that was not enough to to the Russian economy. And the Russian economy, while
cover the growing gap, and the government started to look weaker with oil at $50 per barrel, is still far from going into
for funds by selling state-owned assets, beginning with the free fall. With his knack of manipulating the Russian sense of
pipeline operator Beltransgas.
geopolitical insecurity to obtain tangible economic benefits,
The mounting problems were known to officials but the Belarusian leader can still harbor reasonable hope of
hidden from the population. Factories ran at full capacity, weathering the region-wide recession. Also, his subjects
cash from oil exports was flowing in, and proceeds from have traditionally expressed much greater sensitivity to
export tariffs plumped the state budget. The funding the relative rather than absolute level of living, and the
problem was being addressed one day at a time – by plight of Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and even Russia offers
measures such as asking Russia for a $1.5 billion credit in rich material for comparative propaganda. Similarly, the
2007.
IMF may learn at first hand
the Belarusian president’s
The
global
downturn
brought matters to a head. Any economy would become a miracle if it outstanding ability to avoid
delivery on promises and
First, the sources of foreign
were
to
receive
a
“bailout”
that
amounted
to
conditions. Secretly, he
revenue shrank as prices for
must be hoping for a global
20
percent
of
its
GDP.
oil products and demand in
recovery and a return to
Russia both fell dramatically
more
favorable trading and
during the second half of 2008.
financing
conditions
for
the
company
whose CEO he has
Belarusian exports peaked at about $3 billion a month in
been
with
impressive
success
since
1994:
Belarus, Inc. The
June 2008, and then started to plummet, dropping to $1.6
fact
that
that
firm
is
loss-making
and
outdated
does not in
billion this February. Imports fell too, but they proved
itself
imply
its
imminent
bankruptcy
–
the
financial
crisis
less flexible because a lot of the imported energy is used
is
producing
similar
“zombie
companies”
getting
by
on
domestically to produce heat and basic necessities. This
subsidies
and
cheap
credit
in
the
West,
with
the
American
accelerated the pace of the rising trade deficit, which
reached $4 billion in 2008 and showed no sign of slowing auto industry being a prime example. Similar precedents
in the first two months of 2009. Meanwhile, production has can also be seen during the long Japanese recession of the
fallen as both prices and demand have decreased. GDP fell 1990s.
in the first quarter of 2009 while the trade deficit – and thus
In the longer run, one hopes the crisis has made a
the need for financing – continued to increase. This brought sufficient dent to warrant a gradual integration of the
the government to again seek Russian support, but it was Belarusian economy into the global one on more open,
only partially available. The $2.5 billion IMF credit line was market-friendly terms. This observer’s personal forecast is
no less timely than it was unexpected by both domestic and that the country will now move closer toward welcoming
external observers, coming at a time when foreign currency foreign investment, creating private or mixed-capital
reserves were dropping by a quarter and the currency was companies, and begin an uneasy, convoluted but ultimately
devalued.
unavoidable path toward liberalization and integration –
Even more important, the mountain of short-term debt as did its fellow export-import based economy, Singapore,
under the Belarusian import-export enterprise exploded five decades ago. This would fall far short of the standards
together with the global liquidity crisis. Lending to set by the Central European countries in the 1990s, and
Belarusian borrowers was looking like another form very far from their political achievements, but it offers
of subprime credit and it dried up fast. Also, buyers of hope that this is at least Churchill’s “end of the beginning”
Belarusian exports began to delay payment while sellers for Europe’s last dictatorship.
of imported components were demanding prepayment Siarhiej Karol is a U.S.-based financial executive
– a phenomenon known as the liquidity squeeze, when a Source: TransitionsOnLine, 24 April 2009
shortage of cash forces a decrease in production.
TIME TO FIX THE SYSTEM
The global crisis has forced out into the open things
that were percolating under the surface even during the
boom times. Industrial output is down, the trade deficit
up, foreign financing squeezed. The government had to
Summer 2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Lukashenka Says He's Ready To
Consider Belarus Reforms
MINSK (Reuters) -- Belarus President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka, long criticized as authoritarian in the West,
said he could give suitably qualified opposition figures
government jobs and make other political reforms
demanded by Europe if this does not hurt the economy.
The European Union suspended sanctions against
Lukashenka, Belarus's leader since 1994, and re-established
political contacts after detainees deemed political prisoners
in the West were freed and opposition newspapers were
allowed to publish.
Speaking to Reuters in a wide-ranging interview at the
presidential offices in Minsk, Lukashenka welcomed the
EU's moves and said he was ready for further steps to
ensure good relations for ex-Soviet Belarus with both the
West and the East.
"I believe it is important for both Russia and Europe that
Belarus is a sovereign, independent state where Europeans
can feel at home," he said. "...We have to destroy stereotypes
in people's minds that Belarus can be isolated or taught a
lesson."
Brussels wants to see changes to electoral rules and the
end of a law allowing imprisonment for membership of an
unregistered organization if the sanctions are to disappear
for good.
"If someone starts nudging me towards this, I will take
a good look," Lukashenka said when asked about further
reforms. "If a given step causes no harm to the political and
economic situation, I will do it."
But the Belarusian president said he would not take
steps which could lead to political or economic chaos, such
as that seen in neighboring Ukraine after its 2004 Orange
Revolution.
"I have already made quite a few concessions to Europe,"
Lukashenka said. "But we should not be doing this today...
if it will lead to the collapse of the economy, of public
activity, to negative consequences, to destabilization, as in
Ukraine."
Weak Opposition
Lukashenka noted the weakness of the domestic
opposition, correcting a reporter's assertion that 400 people
attended a recent protest rally.
"We count them to a man. I am therefore telling you
there were 200 people there," he said.
But he said he would accept opposition figures in
government jobs "with great pleasure" if they had the right
qualifications and were willing to work for the benefit of
the people.
He praised Alyaksandr Milinkevich, who ran against
him in the last presidential election in 2006, as "pragmatic
and well-considered" in his policies.
The Belarusian leader, a former state farm boss and
military officer, defended his political system, saying his
people "like our Belarusian model."
Official results gave Lukashenka 83 percent of the vote
in 2006 elections criticized as undemocratic by the West,
against 6 percent for Milinkevich.
10
Police used to routinely disperse protests in Minsk
with truncheons, but Lukashenka said the West was in no
position to give lessons.
"We are criticized for taking tough measures against
demonstrators, but Lukashenka has never, not once,
used tear gas or water cannon against demonstrators,"
he added. "And that is what we have seen periodically in
democratic Europe or in the United States, the very hotbed
of democracy."
Lukashenka has overseen an improvement in relations
with the West, such as his trip last month to Italy and the
Vatican and an invitation for Belarus to take part in this
week's EU Eastern Partnership with six former Soviet
republics.
Alliance With Moscow
But he made it plain change would not be at the expense
of a long-standing alliance with gas and oil supplier
Moscow.
"We have signed a treaty with Russia on building a union
state," Lukashenka said, referring to a largely dormant
1997 treaty establishing a customs and passport union. "We
will not move away from this treaty even if Russia has a
tendency to back away from what has been agreed."
Lukashenka ruled out any question of EU membership
for Belarus in the future, saying "we haven't even thought
of this."
But he also set a condition that union with Russia could
only develop on the principle of complete equality between
both sides -- something Moscow has deemed unrealistic
because Russia's population is fourteen times the size of
Belarus's.
The Belarusian leader said he enjoyed good personal
relations with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and its
Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin.
But he criticized Moscow for doubling gas prices to
Belarus and imposing customs duties on Belarusian
products, saying Russia should have adopted a "more
careful position."
"Economics form the basis of our relations," Lukashenka
said. "If our economic relations are poor, you cannot expect
relations to be any better in terms of politics."
The United States imposed sanctions on Belarus under
the Bush administration, dubbing the former Soviet
republic "the last dictatorship in Europe," a term which
angered Minsk.
Lukashenka bemoaned what he termed the West's
"double standards" toward Belarus, saying nobody
demanded that Russia undertake the kind of political
reforms which were asked of him.
"If I had [natural] resources like Russia or Kazakhstan,
our relations would be completely different," he said.
He foresaw improved relations with Washington
under President Barack Obama, whom he described as a
"reasonable man" but added Minsk had not yet received any
clear signals from the new administration in Washington.
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 05, 2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Belarus’ Forum
March 25 in Minsk
Dictatorship’s scare
Thousands of interior troops' soldiers were brought
to Minsk on March 25. On the day when the country
was celebrating the anniversary of proclamation of the
Belarusian National Republic, the authorities in fact
imposed a state of emergency in the capital.
On March 25 Belarus marked the 91st anniversary of
the Belarusian National Republic , the event that led to the
establishment of independent Belarus. Organizers of the
action, the BPF party, applied for holding a rally between
the Academy of Sciences and the October Square. The
Minsk authorities permitted the participants to gather in
front of the Academy of Sciences and traditionally permitted
a march not to the city centre, but to Banhalor square, a
bedroom district. The action organizers stated that the
authorities' decision to prohibit a peaceful demonstration
marking the national holiday was unlawful and the people
would choose where they want to go.
Oppositionists were preventively arrested ahead of
the action. The regional militia and traffic police officers
detained youth activists, traveling to Minsk for the March
25 demonstration. Apartments of activists of civil campaign
“European Belarus” and “Young Front” were searched
before and during the demonstration. Youth activists were
detained an hour before the rally; militiamen were seizing
them in streets, beating them, taking away their banners
and leaflets.
Nevertheless, several thousand people gathered near
the Academy of Sciences at 6.00 p.m. A large number of
national and EU flags created an atmosphere of a holiday.
In addition to flags, residents of Minsk brought red and
white balloons and flowers. Many people came with their
families and children.
Leader of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Andrei
Sannikau, former chairman of the Supreme Council of
Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich, BPF party leaders Lyavon
Barshcheuski, Viktar Ivashkevich, and Vintsuk Vyachorka,
coordinator of Charter’97 Zmitser Bandarenka, leader of
the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the
Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) Mikola
Statkevich, activists of the civil campaign “European
Belarus” Zmitser Barodka, Yauhen Afnahel, Paval
Yukhnevich, co-head of the organizing committee of the
Belarusian Christian Democracy Paval Sevyarynets, leader
of the "For Freedom" movement Alyaksandr Milinkevich,
leader of the “Young Front” Zmitser Dashkevich, leader
of the “Young Belarus” Artur Finkevich, People’s Artist
of Belarus Zinaida Bandarenka, deputy head of the
United Civil Party Lyudmila Hraznova, Belarus’ National
Poet Henadz Buraukin, popular playwright Uladzimir
Khalip, and other well-known people took part in the
demonstration.
11
Demonstrators were holding huge white-red-white
cloth sheets, streamers with words “European Belarus!”,
“Freedom to political prisoners”, “Belarus to Europe!”
Slogans “Long live Belarus!” and “Independence!” were
heard throughout.
A brief meeting was held in front of the Academy
of Sciences. Speakers (opposition leaders, intellectuals,
youth leaders) congratulated Belarusians on Freedom Day,
expressing confidence that sooner or later the day would
be celebrated as a state holiday.
Finally the BPF deputy chairman Viktar Ivashkevich
called on the participants of the action to form a human
chain along Independence Avenue holding flags and
banners and stand there for an hour, reminding people of
the Freedom Day and the political prisoners.
A portion of the crowd formed a human chain on advice
of Viktar Ivashkevich. But a column of 500 young people
moved to October square shouting “Independence!”, “No
to Union with Imperial Russia!”, “Freedom to Political
Prisoners!” The column consisted of activists of the civil
campaign “European Belarus”, “Young Front”, and “Young
Belarus”.
The young oppositionists managed to walk only
100 meters when their way was blocked by hundreds
of riot militiamen armed with batons at intersection of
Independence Avenue and Brouka Street. A hundred of riot
militiamen formed columns on both sides of the avenue.
Then youth leaders Yauhen Afnagel and Artur
Finkevich urged the demonstrators to refuse to be drawn in
authorities’ provocations. In their words the actions of law
enforcers against peaceful demonstrators showed the real
face of “liberalization” declared by the Belarusian regime.
The rally lasted about an hour longer. People were
standing on the avenue’s border with flags and streamers,
chanting “Long live Belarus!”; the cars passing by honked
in support, some people joined the chain.
When the rally ended in about an hour, buses and trucks
filled with internal troops' soldiers started coming from
the streets near Independence Avenue. 44 buses and trucks
of troops came from the Hikala street alone, near Yakub
Kolas square!
Thus — several thousand soldiers were dispatched
against Belarusians celebrating their national holiday…
Source: Charter 97 Press Center, March 25, 2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Declaration of the Assembly Of
Belarusian Democratic NGOs
On Participation of the Belarusian Civic
Society in the Eastern Partnership
We welcome the new initiative by the European
Union and see it as a historic chance for Belarus to start
participating actively in the European life. However
we believe that Belarus’ accession to this project should
depend on the situation in the country otherwise Eastern
Partnership will just help to preserve today’s situation in
Belarus without providing any fundamental changes.
Current situation in Belarus, in our opinion, limits
the possibility of participation of Belarus in the Eastern
Partnership initiative on political level. The cooperation
of Belarusian authorities with the governing structures of
the Eastern Partnership is going to have just a technical
character and will be aimed on solving particular problems
in the frames of the Eastern Partnership initiative. But the
lack of political cooperation between Belarus and European
Union should not prevent the sides from working together
in the other fields of the project.
The civic society in Belarus is able and is ready to become
a subject which will allow the country to use the potential
of the Eastern Partnership for introducing positive changes
in the State. It is also able not to let Belarusian authorities
to preserve current internal situation. With European
structures’ mediation, a productive dialogue can be led
between Belarusian civic society and authorities, which
might result in effective and stable changes in Belarus.
The development of the criteria of the participation of
Belarus in the Eastern Partnership initiative, as well as the
monitoring of situation in Belarus should be the main tasks
of Belarusian civic society at the moment. These tasks could
be realized, for instance, in the following ways:
a) by developing proposals on changes and reforms in
Belarus;
b) by monitoring changes in the internal situation,
regarding mentioned above propositions;
c) by estimating the level of the correspondence of the
situation in Belarus to European standards;
d) by participating in making agenda for European
governmental and non-governmental institutions with the
purpose of implementing European standards of internal
politics in Belarus (in the fields of human rights, social
security, judiciary, elections, etc.). The implementation
should be organized not only in the framework of the
Eastern Partnership project, but also in the frames of other
forms of Belarusian-European cooperation.
All cases of human rights violations, as well as
other aberrations from European standards, should be
considered in the light of the participation of Belarus in the
Eastern Partnership project. Human rights organizations,
networking structures and other participants of the
country’s civic society should be considered as legitimate
actors in this sphere.
The Civic Society Forum should have real influence on
the country’s issues, it should not cover the absence of real
changes in Belarus.
12
The suggestion to hold the Civic Society Forum in the
form of regular conferences seems to be rather beneficial.
In our opinion, the representation of Belarusian NGOs
at this event should be as diverse, as it is possible, all
important democratic organizations should take part in it.
It is also essential that at the time between the conferences
civic society could have an influence on BelarusianEuropean dialogue. Thus, there is sense in organizing
regular meetings of the leaders of Belarusian civic and
political society with the representatives of authorities.
These meetings should be held under the auspices of the
Eastern Partnership and with the participation of European
experts and of the EU representatives (first of all, those
of the European Commission and its structures, and also
the representatives of different institutions created in the
framework of the Eastern Partnership).
This kind of mechanism is already being implemented
in some other spheres of Belarusian-European dialogue (for
instance, in the field of electoral legislation, the freedom
of expression, etc.). As the practice shows, it has worked
more effectively than the mechanism of creating advisory
councils on the national level. The Eastern Partnership
might help in institutionalizing this mechanism of advisory
councils and increase its effectiveness.
We suggest to pay attention to the Resolution of the
VI Congress of the Assembly of NGOs, which was made
on March 6th, 2009 by more than 300 participants of the
Congress. The Resolution contains a brief analysis of the
current situation in Belarusian third sector and a list of
actions which can be undertaken for the normalization of
the situation. We call upon the international community
to continue monitoring the situation with human rights in
Belarus. Human rights cannot be subject to bargaining or
concessions.
Human rights
(in Belarus) cannot be subject
to bargaining or concessions
The Assembly of Belarusian Democratic NonGovernmental Organizations is ready to take part in the
preparation and organization of the civic society Forum in
the frames of the Eastern Partnership project.
The Assembly of Belarusian
Democratic NonGovernmental Organizations is an association of 220 civic
organizations and initiatives. It was founded in 1997.
Its main objectives are: promotion of Belarusian NGOs’
interests and protection of their rights; improvement of
communication between NGOs; monitoring, analysis
and evaluation of the situation in the public sector. From
the moment when the European Parliament declared the
testing period for Belarusian authorities, the Assembly is
monitoring closely the situation with the realization of the
freedom of association in Belarus.
Source: Press service of the Assembly of Belarusian
Prodemocratic NGOs, April 22, 2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Role of a Government in Exile
By I.J. Survilla
This article, originally a part of a presentation by the
author, explores conditions that have affected Belarusian
self-government since the early 20th century. The stresses
of the Soviet period forced a new Government into exile
and its operations beyond the borders of Belarus. In
order to understand the present plight of this European
nation, there is a need to consider the recent experiential
history of Belarus and Belarusians.
At the time that the people of Belarus proclaimed the
independence of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
(Bielaruskaja Narodnaja Respublika or BNR) on March 25,
1918, 148 years had passed since the first of the partitions
of the Commonwealth of the Two Peoples that was
created centuries earlier, which western historians have
myopically called -- Partitions of Poland. The occupation
was completed in 1795, when all of Belarus became a
province of Russia. Tsarist rule made the 19th century one
of the darkest periods of the history of Belarus. Its people
barely survived as a nation. Its culture, its language, its
religion, its sense of identity, its dignity had been subjected
to a continuous persecution. A most significant response
and impetus for change came in 1918, when the people of
Belarus proclaimed their independence.
I.J. Survilla
President of the BNR Rada
The proclamation of the independence of the Belarusian
Democratic Republic has been the most important event in
the history of modern Belarus. Without it, Moscow would
not have been obliged to create the BSSR - the Belarusian
Socialist Soviet Republic -- in 1919 , and without the existence
of the BSSR, its Head of State Stanislau Shushkevich would
not have been one of the signatories of the dissolution of the
Soviet Union in the last decade of the 20th century. Thus, it
is thanks to BNR that the independent Republic of Belarus
-- however imperfect it may be -- exists today.
When the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic was forced into exile by the invading Bolshevik
troops, it was welcomed in the Czech Republic, where its
two first presidents in Exile, Piotr Krecheuski and his successor Vasil Zakharka, resided until the death of Zakharka in
1943. Under the conditions of Nazi occupation, Zacharka in
his last will requested that Mikola Abramchyk, who was later
13
associated with the French Resistance, take over the struggle
until a new Session of the Rada could be convened. At that
Session, held in post-war West Germany in 1947, Abramchyk
was elected the new President of the Rada. He remained in
that positon, resident in Paris, until his death in 1970. His
successor was Vincent Zhuk-Hryshkevich, a Canadian
Belarusian academic. The fifth President of the Rada of the
Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile was a resident
of the United States, a medical doctor, Joseph Sazhych. I
am the sixth President of the Rada in Exile. I was elected at
the Session of the Rada held in New York in August 1997
and then re-elected for another six year term in 2003. Currently the Rada represents the major Belarusian communities
worldwide.
The first goal of the Rada, the renewed independence of
Belarus, was achieved in 1991. The question most asked
since then has been – why did the Rada keep its mandate
when all the other Governments in Exile of the Republics
of the USSR and of the Soviet satellite states relinquished
theirs upon the demise of the Soviet Union? I will try here
to answer that question and express my understanding
of the key reasons why the role of the Rada remains essential today.
Why are we Europe’s only Government in Exile?
The immense wave of hope experienced at the break-up
of the Soviet Union made the oppressed nations believe that
the end of that successive Russian empire would be followed by a general renaissance of the old states harboring
the values which had been preserved for many decades by
their exiled governments. It did. Belarus was one of the
exceptions. Firstly, because the governmental structures in
place had not yet been established through free elections,
and the country, although now independent, could not be
considered a democracy (even though this term can imply
many kinds of concreteness).
The country’s geographical location and human factor
have not played a lesser role. Because of its geopolitical
interest to Russia, and its proximity to Moscow, the Belarusian territory had been more than any other Soviet Republic
made the homeland of the often evoked humanoid -which we know under the name of HOMO SOVIETICUS.
Intended to be the ideal citizen of a new Soviet order, his
main characteristics were a total ignorance of his pre-Soviet
historical past, the acceptance of the “big brother” status of
Russia, the replacement of his mother tongue by the Russian language, and of his ancestral culture and values by
copies of Russian cultural and historical values. A sense of
non-Russian national identity was condemned as “bourgeous
nationalism” in all non-Russian republics. Granted, that the
Belarusian people were not militantly resisting Moscow’s
russification policies. Having experienced two world wars
on their territory and years of Soviet terror, deprived of
freedom since the partitions, and bereft of historical memory,
Belarusians had developed incredible survival skills and
had adapted to the Soviet ways of life. They were ready
to accept anything “as long as there was no war”.
Their work habits and skills made them one of the
wealthier republics of the Soviet Union. So much so, that
it was literally invaded by two million non-Belarusian
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Soviet citizens. This is not a xenophobic statement, but it
Ever since, our goal has been to protect the statehood
rather emphasizes that this influx significantly changed the of Belarus -- constantly threatened by our increasingly agnature of the electorate in a country of ten million.
gressive Eastern neighbor -- while helping the democratic
A non-democratically elected Parliament, a ”denational- opposition to fight the growingly authoritarian illegitimate
ized nation” (as described by University of Alberta professor government of Alexander Lukashenka and to create a modDavid Marples), a strong foreign element in the population ern European Republic of Belarus.
were not factors we could ignore, when considering the
Rada’s present role
future of the Rada. Although there are some Russian settlers
In December 2001, Edward Lucas, in the Economist,
in Belarus who now consider themselves Belarusian, there is
quoted an Estonian exiled politician who stressed that
still a considerable number of those who retain their Soviet
by its very existence, a government in Exile does its job.
Russian identity and the vestiges of Russia-oriented views.
The Rada or the Belarusian Government in Exile could
Their influence, as well that of the russified former Soviet
have
chosen to be simply the symbol of a free Belarus.
nomenklatura that remained in power, helped to make
Such
a
symbol was still badly needed n Belarus. We held
today’s Republic of Belarus the authoritarian state it is.
this role in the early nineties, when we felt we had done
However, some key events did energize the nascent
all we could to put Belarus on the map of the world, and
democratic opposition. The discovery of the killing
that it was the Belarusian people’s turn to fight for a better
grounds of Kurapaty, and the Chernobyl disaster whose
Belarus. That was until the election of Mr. Lukashenka and
consequences in Belarus were hidden for three years by
the 1995 referendum, the first of all next fraudulent elections
the Soviet authorities, had for a short time given rise to a
and referenda.
mild mutiny even within the Communist structures of the
The Diaspora supporting the Rada has done a lot to bring
new republic. The small but strong democratic opposition
the
outside world’s attention to Belarus after the Chernobyl
led by the Popular Front’s leader Zianon Pazniak succeeded
disaster.
In Canada we created the Canadian Relief Fund
well beyond its numbers, for a time. Had it received some
for
Chernobyl
Victims in Belarus and brought thousands
significant sign of support from the West, it might have ended
of
children
for
a
respite to Canada. The Diaspora in other
the general population’s well developed survival instincts
countries
helped
by sending medicines to Belarus. We
to remain compliant and thus relatively safe. However, the
understood
how
badly
Belarus needed friends in the free
West saw no interest in this small state, which they had
world.
I
have
been
personally
convinced that our defeat
erroneously considered at the time as a Soviet creation. “We
in
Versailles
in
1918
was
due
to
a lack of politically placed
have to draw the line somewhere” said the then Canadian
friends
while
many
of
our
neighbours
who proclaimed
Deputy Prime Minister, Sheila Copps, when our community
and
preserved
their
independence
between
the wars had
tried to plead for help for Belarus. Among the ordinary
had
friends
in
strategic
capitals…We
made
it
a goal to find
Belarusians, hope gave way to nostalgia for the familiar
friends
for
Belarus.
We
realized
what
a
powerful
political
and comfortable, while Russia was already exerting strong
instrument
culture
can
be.
In
order
to
make
Belarus
a
pressure on the Legislature of Belarus - which had been
member
of
the
community
of
European
peoples,
and
not
elected before independence, and still dominated by the
just a disaster zone and “the last dictatorship in Europe,”
resurgent former Communists.
we made it a goal to call attention to Belarusian culture
Aware of the situation, the exile Rada decided to wait
wherever and however we can.
and see. Before relinquishing our mandate, we wanted to
But our most important political contribution to the
be sure that the independence was irreversible and Belarus
renaissance
of Belarusian democracy, to the preservation
would not need us any longer.
of Belarusian culture and the
We considered that the BNR
protection of Belarusian statehood
Rada – a legitimate Parliament
Aware
of
the
situation
has been made through direct
in Exile, was a tremendous
communication with friendly
(in the early 90’s), the exile Rada
asset in our hands, and we
governments. Those who have
were not going to part with
decided to wait and see, before
lived through similar situations,
it without serious assurances.
relinquishing our mandate...
such as the Czechs, those who
The decision was unanimous.
have made it their goal to defend
And soon after, we were proven
democracy
in the world, such as
right. The new President of Belarus,
the
United
States
of
America,
those
who declare that they
Alexander Lukashenka, elected in 1994, showed less than
are
not
ready
to
see
human
rights
violated
anywhere in the
one year after his election his pro-Russian Soviet upbringing
world
-such
as
Canada.
Each
of
our
successes
has needed
and loyalties. In May 1995, he held his first rigged referenconviction
and
convincing,
perseverence
and
presence,
and
dum by which he reintroduced the Soviet style symbols and
communication
and
information
dissemination
on
our
part.
Russian as an official language of Belarus. In 1996, Russia’s
top leadership in persons of its Prime Minister, the heads To achieve them, we have worked through our established
of both houses of its legislature, together with key generals communities in the countries whose help we were seeking,
descended on the capital, and rewarded Lukashenka by often in concert with the democratic Opposition in Belarus.
A good example of this activity was the recent Appeal to
preventing his impending impeachment.
the European Union, which I signed before the EU’s Prague
Summit together with the first Head of State of the Re14
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
public of Belarus, Stanislau Shushkevich, and two previous
democratic candidates for President, Zianon Pazniak, and
Alexander Kazulin. Together with another Presidential
candidate of 2006, Alexander Milinkievich, we met with
the key leaders of the Czech Republic. We thanked the
European Union for accepting Belarus into the Eastern
Partnership Program while expressing our fears that
Europe’s outstretched hand may be misused to legitimize
the regime instead of serving the people of Belarus. We
have asked EU to include Belarusian civil society into the
agreement. And, since the Eastern Partnership’s economic
assistance may prolong Lukashenka’s stay in power, we
have asked EU to take steps to help protect the endangered
Belarusian culture and values. This joint appeal was heard
by the Czech hosts of the Summit, who will pass it on to
Sweden, the next presiding State of the European Union.
The example I have provided was an event held in the
Czech Repubic, a long time friend of the BNR Rada. I have
been received there several times at the highest levels.
The countries who have been in a similar situation to ours
understand well the significance of a Government in Exile.
But in most cases, dealing with a Government in Exile presents diplomatic difficulties, especially where commerce or
a given political interest is involved. Such as the issue of the
Arctic population in the case of Canada and Russia relations.
We do understand that. And, at the same time, we are
concerned that a rapprochement between the United States
and Russia, for example, could theoretically happen at the
expense of Russia’s neighbors. I only hope at this specific
moment in time that President Obama’s administration is
well aware of Russia’s imperialistic instincts.
Last but not least, I would like to address the issue of
the relations of the BNR Rada with Belarus. According
to many, we have been the ray of hope, which has led
our freedom fighters in Belarus to our commun goal – the
real and continued independence of our land. Outside of
Belarus, we have preserved our language, our historical
memory, our sense of national identity while they were
being damaged in Belarus. During the period of renewal at
the beginning of the nineties, the then President of the BNR
Rada, Dr. Sazhych was welcomed in Belarus as an honored
guest. However, as soon as Lukashenka became President,
we became “the enemies of the people” -- together with the
Belarusian democratic Opposition. The national white-redwhite flag, the historical coat of Arms, the very mention
of the Rada are no-nos in Belarus, except when the intent
is their denigration by the propaganda machine. No lie is
too enormous to fight us. The brain washing is successful
among the ordinary Belarusians who have no access to
unbiased information.
Our relationship with most parties of the Opposition
is good. When we attend together international events,
whatever our difference of thinking, we all know our
commun goal is to preserve the Statehood of Belarus and
to make it a free, European democracy. As for the future of
the Rada, we can’t wait to be able to give back our mandate
to a democratically elected BELARUSIAN government. It
will be up to the people of Belarus to decide what kind of
democracy they will have. As informal Ambassadors, we
15
will continue to look for friends for our people, whom they
so tragically lacked in the past centuries.
There is no doubt that a government in Exile is an exotic
idea for many. Such a government exists out of necessity
and operates under many challenges, dilemmas and varying acknowledgments of its empowerment. My experience
in this organism has been at times frustrating, at times
satisfying. I have been privy to the variety of perceptions
of Belarus and the correlations between global buy-in and
the willingness to understand the conditions of existence
of such a government. But whether the Rada is universally
accepted is less important than our constancy of presence.
We function on the idea that we are part of a process toward
democracy, and that by our existence we can mediate the
political nuances that must be understood in order to change
the conditions in Belarus.
This article was originally presented by I.J.Survilla, President
of the Rada of the Belariusian Democratic Republic in Exile, under
the title GOVERNMENT IN EXILE: EXPLORATIONS OF THE
BELARUS ENIGMA, at the Canadian Association of Slavists’
CONFERENCE 2009, on May 24, 2009. Panel Title: Technology,
Nation, Government and Material Culture: four Perspectives on
Belarusian Cultural and Political Experiences
Opposition Delivers Its Roadmap
Belarusian opposition leaders handed a Belarus
democratization roadmap to a US Congress delegation
during a meeting in Vilnius on Thursday, April 16,
BelaPAN reported.
The US delegation led by Shelley Berkley included
four Democrats and three Republicans.
Taking part in the meeting were Anatol Lyabedzka,
leader of the United Civic Party, former presidential
candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin, former presidential
candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich’s ally Viktar
Karnyayenka, Belarusian Association of Journalists
chair Zhanna Litvina, a leader of the Belarusian
Christian Democracy party and Vintsuk Vyachorka,
deputy chair of the Belarusian Popular Front.
Belarus’ opposition politicians had problems when
crossing the border into Lithuania in the morning.
Kazulin had his belongings searched, while opposition
youth leader Artur Finkevich was not allowed to cross
the border. Belarusian border guards told the 24-yearold leader of an opposition youth group called Maladaya
(Young) Belarus that he was temporarily banned from
leaving the country and put an appropriate stamp into
his passport.
Lyabedzka expressed the opinion that the Belarusian
authorities wanted to prevent them from arriving on
time for the meeting. “There was a two-hour line of
cars on the Lithuanian side,” Lyabedzka said. “But
Lithuanian border guards allowed us to jump the line
when we explained the situation to them. Only thanks
to that, we managed to arrive on time.”
Sources: BelaPAN, EuroRadio for Belarus, April 16,
2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
SPORTS
Belarusian Teen Wins a Prestigious
Tennis Tournament
The 19-year-old Belarusian won the Sony Ericsson Open
in Florida. Victoria Azaranka claimed the biggest victory
of her career as she defeated five-time champion and world
number one Serena Williams in the Miami final.
Andrei Mezin has become world’s best hockey
goalkeeper according to the results of the world
championship that was held in Switzerland.
The Belarusian goalkeeper was rated the best by the
tournament’s board of directors and by journalists who
included him in a symbolic championship’s team.
Mezin’s activity percentage in Switzerland was 94.77.
He managed to catch 163 out of 172 pucks.
Mezin at work...
Source: European Radio for Belarus, May 11, 2009
Here is how Washington Post covered this victory:
Williams led 3-2 before Azaranka won five consecutive
games to take control. The teenager also won the final five
games and closed out the biggest win of her career when
Williams sailed a backhand long. Azaranka tossed away
her racket, covered her face and hopped to the net.
Her voice shook during the trophy ceremony.
“I’m sorry. I think I forgot my English right now,” she
told the crowd. “It was such an honor for me to play Serena.
She’s the greatest player for me. I was so happy to be able
to play her and win.”
Azaranka, who won her first tour title three months ago
at Brisbane, improved to 23-2 this year. She grew up in
Minsk and befriended NHL goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin,
who invited her to the United States to train. She moved
to Scottsdale and has lived there with Khabibulin and his
wife since 2005.
Source: http://bielar.us, April 2009
2009 Ice Hockey World Championship
Belarus’ team placed 8th, defeating Hungary 3:1,
Norway 3:2 in overtime, Slovakia 2:1 and Finland 2:1 on
penalty shots.
Russia edged Belarus 4-3 in a back-and-forth quarterfinal
match.The defending champion Russia trailed twice in
the second period but forward Ilya Kovalchuk scored the
winner in the third period.
Russians won gold, Canadians silver and Swedes
bronze.
Forward Mikhail Hrabouski became Belarusian teams’
most productive player, with 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists),
followed by Aleh Antonienka - 6 (3+3), and Alaksiej
Kaluzhny - 6 (1+5).
16
Belarus Will Organize 2014 Ice Hockey
World Championship
The International Ice Hockey Federation decided
that Belarus will organize the 2014 Ice Hockey World
Championship, LETA was informed by the president of the
Latvian Ice Hockey Federation Kirovs Lipmans.
Latvia's candidacy received three votes out of a possible
108, whilst Belarus received 75 votes. As reported, Latvia
vied for the right to organize the 2014 championships with
Belarus, Hungary and Ukraine.
Latvia has already organized the championships once,
in 2006, whereas Hungary, Ukraine and Belarus have not
yet hosted the championships. In 2010 the championships
will be held in Germany, in 2011 in Slovakia, in 2012 in
Finland and in 2013 in Sweden.
Source: Web site The Baltic Course
Quotes of Quarter
On May 28 Russian Finance Minister ALEKSEI KUDRIN
stated at a press conference in Moscow:
“ We may face insolvency of the Belarusian
government and its economy as a whole due to their
insufficient reserves by the end of the year, or maybe
in a year”. He later added “I offered to Lukashenka,
and our president supported issuing the $500 million
loan in Russian rubles, if Russian rubles are needed
in mutual payments, but Belarus refused.”
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
NEWS BRIEFS
April 01, 2009
Opposition Defense Spells Trouble For Minsk Teacher
MINSK -- An English teacher in Minsk who was fired for
politically charged remarks she made in class last week was
rehired by her employer, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
The private "SOL Minsk" education center dismissed Mariana
Hruzdzilovich on March 25 after she defended demonstrators
from a student's characterization of them as "dumb monsters of
the opposition [who] gather in the streets and shout out some
stupid things."
The exchange came after a class discussion began about
Freedom Day, which was marked by opposition activists in
Belarus on March 25.
Hruzdzilovich reportedly responded that she had attended such
gatherings for many years and saw many good and intelligent
people among the demonstrators.
She was fired the following day.
Hruzdzilovich told RFE/RL that the female student told her
parents of the conversation, and that the girl's father was a police
colonel who then pressured the education center into firing
Hruzdzilovich.
SOL Minsk rehired her on March 31.
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 19, 2009
Riot militiamen beat opposition and tear EU flags on
Solidarity Day in Belarus
An action of solidarity with political prisoners was brutally
dispersed in Minsk on April 16. People who came to the October
square were brutally beaten by riot militiamen.
About a hundred opposition activists gathered on October
square to demand the authorities to release prisoners of
conscience.
The demonstrators were holding portraits of political prisoners
and disappeared Belarusian politicians and banners “Freedom
for Political Prisoners”, national and EU flags. Ten minutes later,
dozens of riot militiamen came to the square and began to force
people to Internatsyanalnaya Street. Riot militiamen were beating
people, snatching national and EU flags.
The demonstrators were forced out of October square to
Internatsyanalnaya Street and then to Yanka Kupala Street
and Bahdanovich Street. The protesters were escorted some
kilometres to Atlant refrigerator plant. When the demonstrators
made attempts to return to the square, riot militia forced them
out again.
The protesters were shouting “Shame!”, “Fascists!”, “Freedom
to political prisoners!”, “Long Live Belarus!”
“Riot militia uses an extremely mean and cynical policy
during these dispersals. One can think that participants of the
action were just being pushed out of the city center, but in real
fact, riot militiamen were beating us cruelly. They were hitting us
with their fists and feet in kidneys, legs, and backbones.
Source: Charter97 Press Center
17
April 26, 2009
Opposition Stages Chernobyl Anniversary Demonstration in
Minsk
A crowd estimated by reporters at up to 1000 people participated
in an opposition-organized demonstration in Minsk on Sunday
afternoon to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster.
Three leaders of the Belarusian Popular Front, Lyavon
Barshcheuski, Vintsuk Vyachorka and Viktar Ivashkevich, as
well as Syarhey Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian Party of
Communists, were the official organizers of the traditional
demonstration, called Charnobylski Shlyakh (The Path of
Chernobyl).
The demonstration began with a rally in the square in front of
the National Academy of Sciences, the government-authorized
assembly place for the event.
The Belarusian authorities hide the truth about the severity of
the Chernobyl accident’s impact on the population of the country,
Ivan Nikitchanka, a corresponding member of the National
Academy of Science, said in his opening address. According to
him, a survey recently conducted by him and other experts found
that there was not a single area in Belarus where there were no
people without radionuclides in their bodies.
Dr. Nikitchanka said that it should the task of the entire nation,
not only opposition groups or the government, to minimize the
consequences of the accident.
Heorhiy Lepin, a member of the founding committee for an
organization called Scientists for a Nuclear Free Belarus, said that
no proper exploration has been done at the site in the Astravets
district near the Lithuanian border that the government has
selected for the construction of Belarus` first-ever nuclear power
plant. There is a tectonic fault line in the area and the hazardous
seismological environment there may lead to the collapse of the
plant, Dr. Lepin warned.
.The demonstration ended with a commemorative ceremony
in front of the Chernobyl chapel at about 3 p.m., with some 400
people in attendance.
Pavel Sevyarynets, a leader of the unregistered Belarusian
Christian Democracy party, said in his speech that the Chernobyl
disaster was a portent of the collapse of the Soviet regime. “But
before that, the regime did one of its last black deeds by ordering
that the radioactive clouds moving towards Moscow be seeded in
the Homyel and Mahilyow regions in Belarus,” Mr. Sevyarynets
said. “The names of the people who made that decision have
been erased from memory. They have been forgotten by people
but not by God. And their deed will be properly assessed by the
justice of Heaven.”
.... While visiting the Chernobyl-affected Homyel region on
April 25, Mr. Lukashenka called the forthcoming demonstration
a “fascist march.” “Tomorrow they want to walk around streets in
a fascist march to demonstrate something,” the Belarusian leader
said. He suggested that oppositionists should better demonstrate
in radioactively contaminated areas.
Source: www.naviny.by, Office for Democratic Belarus
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
May 5, 2009
Political refugees from Belarus deprived of media
accreditation for the Prague summit
Czech authorities have canceled the accreditation of Belarusian
political refugee and journalist Aliaksei Shydlouski and two other
Belarusian journalists at EU's Eastern Partnership summit.
Last week, Shydlouski was accredited as a reporter with
the Belarusian immigrants’ newspaper Minsk-Prague-Inform
together with Yauhen Sidoryk, the editor-in-chief of this
newspaper. According to Charter'97, the accreditation was
confirmed by the press office of the Czech foreign ministry.
Source: European Radio for Belarus
May 8, 2009
Protest against Lukashenka’s dictatorship at summit opening
in Prague
About 100 Belarusians stayed near the Congress Center
holding posters “No to Dictator Lukashenka in Europe!”, “No
to Dictatorship!”, “Freedom to Political Prisoners in Belarus!”,
national white-red-white flags and flags of the civil campaign
“European Belarus”.
“We were standing on the steps near the entrance. Ours was the
only protest picket near the building where the Eastern Partnership
summit is being held, so it drew everyone’s attention. Numerous
journalists who came to cover the summit, showed great interest
in the Belarusians’ protest rally,” Alyaksei Shydlouski told the
Charter’97 press center.
Delegations of countries-participants of the Eastern Partnership
program welcomed the protesters. They read slogans with great
interest, said Alyaksei Shydlouski. The Belarusian delegation
arrived at the Congress Center in an armoured car. Escorted by
securities, they passed by the protesting refugees and disappeared
in the building.
The protesters welcomed the representatives of the Belarusian
regime with hissing and shouts “Long Live Belarus!” and “Shame
on you!”
PM Topolanek assuring demonstrators
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek appeared before
the demonstrators to express his solidarity with the protesters
and assure that European politicians know there are political
prisoners in Belarus and Europe is not going to give up principles
of democracy.
Source: Charter97 Press Center
18
May 8, 2009
Belarus, EU to Develop Energy Cooperation
Belarus and the European Union intend to develop cooperation
in the energy area. This intention is confirmed in the power
engineering declaration between the Government of Belarus and
the Commission of the European Communities. Foreign Minister
of Belarus Syarhei Martynau and Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
European Commissioner for External Relations and European
Neighbourhood Policy, exchanged the alternates of the document
in Prague on May 7.
“This is a small but confident step,” Benita Ferrero-Waldner
said. This is a very important move for the two sides, according
to Syarhei Martynau.
By signing the declaration, the sides state the intent to
continue discussing the issues of oil and gas transportation, safety
delivery problems of mutual interest. Belarus-EU will exchange
information on energy strategies and programmes, approximate
the approaches to regulation and reformation of the energy sector
especially gas and electricity markets. The sides intend to develop
regional cooperation in the area of energy markets.
The sides acknowledge that Belarus and the EU are bound by
common interests in the energy sector and that the integration
of their energy markets may bring benefits to the two sides and
strengthen the energy security on the European continent.
The declaration will be finally formalized once it is signed by
Energy Minister of Belarus Alyaksandr Azyarets and European
Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
Source: BelTA, Office for Democratic Belarus
May 11, 2009
29 people on solidarity hunger strike to support political
prisoners in Belarus
Political prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich has been on hunger
strike for 26 days in the pre-trial detention center protesting
against unlawful arrest. New opposition activists join the hunger
strike every day to express their solidarity with him.
State of health of Vaukavysk entrepreneur Mikalai
Autukhovich, who is on hunger strike, has deteriorated, lawyer
Pavel Sapelka told.
On May 4, a number of political and public figures of Belarus
declared themselves on indefinite hunger strike to support the
detained entrepreneurs from Vaukavysk, who are kept in the
Minsk pre-trial detention center #1. Among the participants
of the strike are former presidential candidate Alyaksandr
Kazulin, leader of the BPF party Lyavon Barshcheuski, former
political prisoners Andrei Kim, Mikalai Statkevich, Syarhei
Skrabets, Artsyom Dubski, leader of the coordinative council
of entrepreneurs Alyaksandr Makaeu, “Young Front” activists
Anastasiya Palazhanka, Mikola Dzyamidzenka, and others.
The participants of the hunger strike demand to free arrested
entrepreneurs’ leaders Mikalai Autukhovich, Yury Lavonau, and
Uladzimir Asipenka from charges, release them immediately,
rehabilitate all political prisoners in the country, and stop
persecuting people on political motives.
Street rallies of solidarity are organized in Minsk and other
Belarusian towns every day.
Source: Charter 97 Press Center
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
May 12, 2009
Justice Ministry Denies Registration to Belarusian Christian
Democracy
The Belarusian Ministry of Justice has lifted the suspension
of its registration denial to Belarusian Christian Democracy
(BCD), taking the final decision not to give the legal status to the
opposition party.
The justice ministry denied state registration to the BCD party
on April 15, citing flaws in its application papers and other minor
irregularities.
Two days later, the ministry issued a statement saying that
it had suspended the registration denial because of "the need to
study additional information."
The BCD has a month to appeal against the registration denial
to the Supreme Court.
"I have no doubt that BCD will be denied registration," Pavel
Sevyarynets, a member of the BCD founding committee, told
BelaPAN earlier this month. "A government TV channel is now
making a report about our party. Local authorities force our
activists say on record that they did not participate in the BCD
founding conference. This is being done to justify the registration
denial."
The government is afraid of legalizing a party that cooperates
with educational institutions and churches, Mr. Sevyarynets said.
"We`ll continue to work irrespective of the justice ministry`s
decision," he said.
Source: www.naviny.by
May 17, 2009
The Belarusian Viking won the Eurovision contest
Belarus-born Alexander Rybak from Norway became the
winner of the 54th Eurovision Song Contest. Most European
countries, among them Belarus, gave the musician the highest
mark
Our countryman scored record 387 points beating previous
record by Finnish band Lordi (292) in 2006.
According to the Eurovision rules the next contest will be
organized in Norway.
Norway received the maximum number of points –12 – from
Spain, Belarus, Sweden, Israel, Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine,
Poland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Denmark, Slovenia, and
Hungary.
The song ”Fairytale,” that gave victory to Rybak at the song
contest held in Moscow, was composed for the occasion, as told
by the singer: a musician began to play a melody recalling his
beloved. That is how Fairytale was born.
Alexander Rybak was born in Minsk to a family of musicians
on May 13, 1986. When he was five, his parents moved to an
19
Oslo suburb and he has never visited his native country since
then. He played with the popular group A-Ha and the famous
violin-player Pinchas Zukerman.
Source: Charter97 Press Center
May 20, 2009
CSTO Official Says Russia Will Supply Missiles To Belarus
MINSK -- The secretary-general of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO), Nikolai Bordyuzha, said in Minsk
that Russia will soon supply Belarus with S-400 and Iskander
missiles.
Meanwhile, Minsk-based military analyst Alyaksandr Alesin
told RFE/RL's Belarus Service that Russia needs to resolve
shortages within its own air-defense troops before it begins
helping other countries.
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 20, 2009
Gas Price for Belarus to Reach $200-205 per 1,000 Cubic
Metres in July
Starting from July 1 2009, the gas price for Belarus will make
up $200-205 per one thousand cubic metre, First Deputy Prime
Minister of Belarus Uladzimir Syamashka said in a plenary
session within the Belarusian Industrial Forum on May 20.
“From July 1 Belarus will pay $200-205 per 1,000 cubic metre
of the Russian gas,” he said. Uladzimir Semashka emphasized
that gas tariffs in Belarus are lower than in Europe as a transport
constituent of the prime cost in gas transportation from Russian to
Europe is higher than from Russia to Belarus. Besides, Belarus,
as a Union State member, purchases gas duty-free.
Source: BelTA, Office for Democratic Belarus
June 5, 2009
Silence of the European Union may kill Belarusian political
prisoner
Austrian human rights activists are raising alarm: political
prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich has been on hunger strike for
more than 50 days.
A long hunger strike of the arrested Belarusian entrepreneur
inspired human rights activists from Austria to make a clip that
is being actively distributed on the internet. A short movie tells
about the destiny of Belarusian political prisoners, one of whom,
Mikalai Autukhovich, had to go on hunger strike protesting his
unlawful arrest. The Belarusian authorities, however, don’t react
to the protest act of the Belarusian prisoner of conscience. The
EU leadership doesn’t display practically any reactions either.
Source: Charter 97 Press Center
June 6, 2009
Economist says milk ban may cause financial bleeding
Economist Leanid Zaika says that Russia's ban on dairy
imports from Belarus would hit Belarusian farmers hard.
Russia’s consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor
banned the import of some 500 titles of Belarusian dairy
products last week and later announced plans to add 800 more
titles to the ban list. The agency cited the producers’ failure to
obtain necessary permits in accordance with Russia’s new food
standards in effect since December 2008.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski ordered
Belarusian officials to end what he called “the war of words”
with Russia over the export of dairy products.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Zaika says that Russia moved to stop Belarus' expansion to
its market.
”Belarus' dairy export to Russia rose by 37 percent last year.
Wasn't Russia supposed to react to that? The internal demand is
shrinking amid the crisis, while Belarusians keep flooding it with
milk," Zaika told ERB.
He says that the ban may lead to a loss of $200 million to $300
million for Belarus' economy. In addition, he says, farms may
face a shortage of money to pay wages to farm workers.
"This is a geopolitical weapon. All 118 districts in Belarus
may face a shortage of cash," Zaika predicts.
He adds that Rospotrebnadzor may also impose a fine on
Belarusian dairy farms for failure to comply with the standards. It
may be as big as $500 million. Belarus expects Russia to release
the same amount of money as a loan.
Meanwhile, Belarusian officials have reportedly begun talks
with Baltic states, Georgia and Azerbaijan and other possible
destinations for milk export.
"No one waits for us in other markets. This is not a matter of
days. It is impossible to capture new markets so fast," economist
Mikhal Zaleski comments on the situation.
Source: Anton Valatkovich, Maksim Yarmak, European Radio
for Belarus
June 14, 2009,
Belarus Leader Snubs Moscow Security Pact Summit
MINSK (Reuters) -- Belarusian President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka will not attend a former Soviet security pact summit
in Moscow on June 14 in protest at Russia's ban on imports of its
dairy products, Belarus's Foreign Ministry said.
Ties between former Soviet allies Russia and Belarus have
been strained, with Moscow angered by Belarus's refusal to
recognize Georgia's pro-Russian breakaway provinces of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
Earlier this month, Russia banned imports of 1,200 types of
milk products from Belarus, which earns billions of dollars from
its dairy exports and last year had about 4 percent of the Russian
market.
"At this moment, we witness an open economic discrimination
by one of the members of the Collective Security Treaty
Organisation [CSTO] against Belarus in a very important segment
of products," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Objectively, such actions undermine economic security,
which is a fundamental basis for stability ... In the current
situation, Belarus ... is forced to cancel its participation in the
[CSTO] meeting in Moscow on June 14."
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 18, 2009
Milk War Over?
Belarus has resumed deliveries of dairy products to Russia,
but the ongoing dispute between the countries does not seem to
be over.
Following talks in Moscow on Wednesday, head of Russia's
consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor and Belarusian Agriculture
Minister Syamyon Shapira signed a protocol changing technical
requirements for the import of dairy products from Belarus,
which were the reason for the ban.
However, the dispute between the countries may continue on
a new level. The Belarus customs service has said that it plans to
20
implement certain elements of customs control on the Russian
border.
Currently, customs control of goods from Belarus and customs
clearance of goods from third countries only exists on the Russian
side. Vedomosti daily reports that Minsk has already introduced
stricter customs examination procedures.
Source: Russia Today, Office for Democratic Belarus
June 18, 2009
RIGHT ALLIANCE registered
The right-wing organization ”Right Alliance” has been
officially registered on June 17, 2009. Its leader, Yuras Karetnikau
informed Radio Racyja about it.
The organization’s objectives are defined as: realization
of informative and consulting functions of a non-commercial
character, supporting youth activities in the fields of education,
business, culture, sports and tourism, as well as contributing
to the economic and social-cultural development of Belarus’
citizens.
Yuras Karetnikau
The ”Right Alliance” was founded five years ago as a union
of Belarusian patriotic youth initiatives after the voluntary
dissolution of the Belarusian Party of Freedom.
After five yours of underground activity the organization has
been registered as a informative and consulting institution,. Now
the ”Right Alliance” is entitled to publish books, magazines,
produce CDs, conduct publicity campaigns and even scholarly
research.
This type of registration is not performed by the Ministry
of Justice, but rather by other governmental structures - district
administrations, official name registers etc.
This allows us to use our official name and forms, to publicize
our activities. We will now be able to open organization’s
branches in the regions.
The negative side of the coin is that we will be treated as a
commercial structure, which makes it easier to liquidate us than
a civic organization.
During its past five years in the underground the ”Right
Alliance” has conducted in the capital and regions dozens oof
actions of a national-patriotic and civic nature.
The organization is led by Mr. Yuras Karetnikau, who ran for
a parliament seat in in the last parliamentary elections.
Source: Siarhiej Budkin, Radio Racyja
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
BELARUS ABROAD
CBS International Summer School for
Belarusian Studies in Poland
The Center for Belarusian Studies at Southwestern College
(Winfield, KS) invites undergraduate and graduate students
to participate in its first International Summer School for
Belarusian Studies from July 6 to August 7, 2009.
The program, to be co-sponsored by the Poland-based
Belarusian Historical Society, will be held at the Belarusian
Lyceum in the town of Hajnówka in the Podlasie region of
northeastern Poland, an area of great natural beauty and
home to Poland’s ethnic Belarusian minority — an ideal
setting for the study of Belarusian language, history and
culture, as well as for the study of a broad range of issues
relating to cultural diversity and minorities policies in the
expanded EU. Coursework will include intensive Belarusian
language instruction (beginning and intermediate levels and
individual advanced-level tutorials) and lectures in English
and Belarusian on Belarusian history, literature, contemporary
politics and society.
The program will also include a regional studies component,
with lectures and events focusing on the history, culture and
current status of the Belarusian minority in Poland, as well as
of the Podlasie region’s other ethnic groups, including Poles,
Jews, Tatars, Lithuanians, and Russian Old Believers. Faculty
will include instructors from Białystok University and the
Belarusian Lyceum in Hajnówka, as well as Hrodna University
in Belarus. Additional guest lectures on Belarusian history,
politics and culture will be given by visiting researchers from
Europe and North America. Students will have a choice of
dormitory accommodations at the Belarusian Lyceum, or
homestays with Belarusian-speaking families in Hajnówka.
Coursework will be supplemented by a rich and diverse
cultural program, including visits to Belarusian minority
cultural organizations and media outlets, meetings with
Belarusian writers and artists, films, concerts, theatrical
performances, and excursions to important sites related to
Belarusian and Orthodox culture and other attractions of the
Podlasie region: the city of Białystok, the recently restored
Orthodox monastery in Supraśl, the Białowieża (Belaveža)
National Park (the largest and ecologically most diverse
remnant of the primeval forests of the Northern European
plain), the historic town of Bielsk Podlaski, the Holy
Mountain of Grabarka (the most important Eastern Orthodox
pilgrimage site in Poland), and the Borderland Foundation
in Sejny, a unique institution dedicated to preserving the
rich multicultural heritage of the borderland region and
promoting dialogue and new forms of cooperation between
its many ethnic groups and cultures.
In mid-July students will also have the opportunity to
attend Basovišča, the annual festival of Belarusian rock
music organized by the Belarusian Students’ Association in
the town of Gródek (Haradok) east of Bialystok. At the end
of the program, from August 8-19th, students will have the
option of traveling to Belarus on a tour including Hrodna,
Navahrudak, Slonim, Niasviž, Mir, Minsk, Połack, Viciebsk,
Mahiloŭ, Pinsk and Brest.
21
The program cost, including tuition, room, board, cultural
program and excursions is $2,900 (the cost of the optional
Belarus tour at the end of the program will be announced
as details become available). For further information and
application materials, please contact the program director:
Dr. Curt Woolhiser, Harvard University, Department of Slavic
Languages and Literatures, Barker Center 327, 12 Quincy St.
, Cambridge MA 02138-3804; e-mail: cwoolhis@fas.harvard.
edu; tel. (617) 495-3528.
Source: http://www.bielar.us, April 6, 2009
Exhibition of Belarusian Posters
Revisits Brussels
On April 24 sunny Brussels hosted the opening of the
exhibition ‘Visual code of the time: post-Soviet poster art in
Belarus’. It was the second presentation of this exhibition in
Brussels. After the Administration Communale d’Evere and
Curieus Evere, the Centre culturel Forest expressed its great
interest in presenting Belarusian posters to Brussels’ public.
It is in fact the first exhibition presented in the newly
opened Centre culturel Forest. The centre was inaugurated
only in September 2008, however, the building, which hosts
it, has a long history. During more than one century it hosted
the Wielemans Ceuppens brewery, which closed in stages
during 1982-1988. After that, the site has been abandoned for
almost 20 years. Some years ago local authorities decided to
blow a new live to the spot, creating the cultural centre and
making it profitable for the inhabitants of the neighborhood.
The exhibition was opened by representatives from the
Office for a Democratic Belarus ( Brussels), the Centre culturel
Forest and Association Culturelle Joseph Jacquemotte, which
organised the event. The exhibition focuses on the works of
mid 1980s-1990s which, according to the authors of the project
- the Office for a democratic Belarus and the Belarusian
Union of Designers - most brightly illustrate the impact that
important socio-political transformation taking place in the
country in that time had on poster art.
The exhibition has already been on display in six European
cities including Warsaw, Berlin, Dresden, Trieste, Granarolo
and Toulouse. Thirty works of well-known Belarusian
designers were displayed in the Centre culturel Forest until
May 7, 2009.
.Source: Office for Democratic Belarus, April 25, 2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Congress of New Belarusian Diaspora
The Second Congress of the New Belarusian Diaspora
of Europe and the USA took place in Strasbourg, France,
on April 24-28, 2009. The New Belarusian Leaders
Forum: Renaissance Generation addressed the matters
of cooperation between the EU and Belarus united the
representatives of the younger cohort of Belarusian émigrés
in the EU and the USA.
Thirty five leaders of the new generation from
fourteen European countries and the USA and prominent
representatives of the Belarusian civil society and
Belarusian experts in political affairs, mass media, and
civil society attended the Congress. Special attendees
included: Leader of democratic movement “For Freedom”
Alyaksandr Milinkevich, Deputy Director of Rada BNR
Siarhiej Navumchyk, political analysts Piotr Martsau and
Yury Drakakhrust, and human rights defenders Inna Kuley
and Andrey Kim.
The attendees addressed the problems of current
political, social, and economic environment in Belarus, the
country’s dialogue with the European entities, participated
in plenary sessions on the matters of European integration
and major unifying and disintegrating factors affecting the
Belarusian civil society, assessed the results of the previous
year’s Congress, and developed a wide range of new
projects and initiatives.
In closing, the Congress passed the Declaration with
recommendations to the European and Belarusian
authorities and organizations for most optimal development
of the mutual cooperation, and issued two statements
addressing (1) politically charged criminal persecution of
Mikalai Autuchovitch and his colleagues; (2) disregard
of the public opinion in the matter of nuclear power
plant construction in Belarus. The English texts of the
Congress’ statements were sent to the European entities,
representatives of Belarus to the Council of Europe, and
mass media.
The participants of the Congress also met with the
representatives of the Conference of International NonGovernmental Organizations of the Council of Europe,
PACE, and human rights experts. Andrey Kim and Ivan
Shyla were awarded Freedom Medal as the most energetic
political activists of 2008 at the official ceremony attended
on April, 26 by MP Christos Pourgourides, Special Reporter
of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights.
Arts exhibitions of young Belarusian artists from the
organization Young Media - Photos of Belarus featured
works of Valeria Krasovskaya. The Congress was organized
by the international community Third Way with the
support of the Belarusan Ruch International, Conference
of International Non-Governmental Organizations of
the Council of Europe, and German Marshall Fund, and
Rada of Belarusan Democratic Republic (BNR). The First
Congress of the New Belarusian Diaspora of the EU and
the USA took place in March 1-4, 2008 in Tallinn, Estonia.
Source: www.3rdWay.org, April 29, 2009
22
Declaration of the Belarusian Opposition
On Eastern Partnership
We welcome the idea of the Eastern Partnership and
express our appreciation to the EU for including Belarus
in this programme.
We understand the importance of the general issues
prompting the EU to propose a new approach in dealing with Lukashenka’s anti-democratic regime, which is
intentionally destroying Belarusian civil society.
Nevertheless, we believe that securing the rights of
civil society and of the individual should be a condition
for relations with the authoritarian regime of Aliaksandr
Lukashenka and should be stressed in the Partnership’s
protocols. Participation of civil society in the Eastern
Partnership will guarantee positive changes; it will create the possibility of a positive choice for replacing the
existing regime. Without this participation, the Partnership will not achieve positive results and will be used by
the anti-democratic regime to justify its own destructive
activities.
We would like to draw attention to the anti-culture
character of Lukashenka’s regime. Along with ruining
civil society and violating human rights, this regime is also
methodically destroying Belarusian culture, education
and creativity, national historical knowledge. It has made
universal Russification the mainstay of its anti-culture
policies. In the contemporary world, culture is becoming
one of the main attributes of sovereignty. Russification and
the destruction of culture increase the negative influence
of Russian pro-imperial political circles in Belarus.
In our opinion, one of the priorities of the Eastern
Partnership’s activities should be its assistance in saving Belarusian culture from systematic destruction by
an anti-Belarusian regime. We propose adding an item to
EU’s demands to the Belarusian regime. It should deal
with securing free development of Belarusian culture,
education and creativity.
We believe that, in the realm of economic cooperation,
priorities should be assigned to energy management and
diversification of supplies of energy resources; namely,
to investments in projects and technology dealing with
the transportation of energy resources (oil, gas, and
electricity).
We also consider it necessary to abolish all barriers
by the regime to people’s access to information and cultural-education projects. Simplification of the visa regime
and reduction of visa fees for citizens of the Republic of
Belarus would favour the mutual exchange of ideas and
understanding of the democratic way of life.
We would like to point the attention of EU politicians to
signals concerning the development of a mutual strategy
by Lukashenka and his eastern allies regarding the Eastern
Partnership. In our view, if this factor is underestimated
and all forces in the Republic of Belarus (including those
in emigré community) are not included in the Eastern
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Partnership programme, prospects for the Partnership in
Belarus might not develop or may just stop (in the worst
case) at the level of factual recognition and legitimisation
of the anti-democratic regime.
Feeling responsible for our people (Belarusians), we are
interested in the viability of the partnership programme.
We hope that our position will be heard and supported
by the initiators and all participants of the Eastern Partnership.
6th of May 2009, Prague
Ivonka Survilla,
President of the BNR Rada,
and former presidential candidates: Zianon Pazniak,
Stanislau Shushkevich and Aliaksandr Kazulin.
Source: The web page of the Conservative-Christian Party
of BPF , 09.05.2009
Editor’s Note
In an interview with a Radio Liberty reporter, Aliaksandr Milinkevich explained why he has not signed the
joint declaration by Ivonka Survilla, Stanislau Shushkevich, Zianon Pazniak, and Aliaksandr Kazulin:
I basically supported the text of the declaration.
However, such declarations should be very articulate
and properly verified; the text included some statements that, in my view, are not supported by facts.. For
example, there is the statement implying that authorities
of Belarus and Russia have a plan for destroying the
Eastern Partnership.
Belarus Days in Prague
A series of events with the participation of the Belarusian
opposition's representatives took place in the Czech
capital on May 4-7 in the framework of the 'Belarusian
Days in Prague'.
On Monday, May 4 a documentary film on Belarus
entitled "The Kingdom of Dead Mice" was shown in
Prague's city library. A discussion on the political situation
in Belarus followed. It was attended by the Belarusian
political analyst Ales Lahvinets and former Czech interior
minister Jan Ruml.
On May 5 ex-presidential candidate Alyaksandr
Kazulin, chairwoman of the Belarusian People's Republic
Ivonka Survilla, leader of the Conservative Christian Part
of the Belarusian Popular Front Zianon Pazniak, leader
of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada Stanislau
Shushkevich and leader of the ”For Freedom” movement
Alyaksandr Milinkevich met with the Czech prime
minister Mirek Topolanek.
On the same day Ivonka Survilla, Pazniak, Kazulin and
Shushkevich met with Prague's Belarusian community mainly with students - and answered their questions.
23
In the morning of May 6, the five politicians hel meetings
at the foreign affairs committee of the Czech parliament. In
the evening, the Free Theater from Minsk performed the
play "Generation Jeans" in the Montmartre gallery.
Besides, the five representatives of the Belarusian
opposition took part in the conference entitled "Eastern
Partnership: Forming A Forum of Civil Society" on May 56.
On May 7, the Belarusian oppositionists met the Czech
foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg. Afterwards, they
answered questions by journalists.
Marching to the Congressional Centrum
In the afternoon of May 7 a demonstration against
political repressions in Belarus was held on a central square
in Prague . Later about 200 demonstrators - representing
Belarusian diasporas from the Czech Republic, Germany,
Poland and Belgium - picketed Prague's Congressional
Centrum, the initial site of the European Union's Eastern
Partnership project. They demanded democratic reforms
in Belarus and greeted the official Belarus delegation with
shouts of "Shame!"
Source: European Radio for Belarus, May 8, 2009.
Quotes of Quarter
“Now is the time together with all EU
countries and the Euro-commission to expand the Eastern Partnership initiative that
had such a good start in Prague. We’ll take
real steps that will benefit Belarus, as well
as the European Union.”
Ambassador STEFAN ERICSSON of Sweden
whose country is assuming the EU presidency, declared on June 1 at a press conference in Minsk.
Note: The Ambassador spoke in Belarusian, making the local journalists, even those of Russian
language papers to do the same.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Thoughts and Observations
A Divided EU Reaches Out To
Former Soviet States
By Heather Maher
PRAGUE -- European heads of state have gathered in
Prague for landmark talks with six eastern countries it
hopes to bring closer to the West, despite opposition from
Moscow.
A draft summit statement of the new Eastern Partnership
says its main goal is to “accelerate political association and
further economic integration” between the 27-member
European Union and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
said the summit marked a “new start” in the bloc’s relations
with its eastern neighbors.
"This Eastern Partnership is a substantial offer for
stepping up our bilateral ties with our eastern partners.
It is also an instrument to boost regional cooperation and
cohesion. This is a frame work for a long-term relationship
and engagement by the European Union based on common
interest and shared values," Barroso said.
Russian Anger
Moscow opposes the partnership, which it sees an
attempt to reduce its influence in what it considers its
backyard. On May 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov warned against the creation of “new dividing
lines” in Europe.
But Brussels insists the new alliance is not against Russia.
European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio
said, “this is not about building spheres of influence.”
EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana echoed that at a
postsummit press conference with reporters in Prague.
"This is not against Russia. In fact, as you know very well,
probably Russia and maybe Turkey will be cooperating
in some of the programs, that eventually will be [put] in
place. This is the philosophy in which we are beginning
this process," Solana said.
EU Divisions
The idea for the partnership came from the Czech
Republic, which currently holds the rotating EU
Presidency.
More than half of the 27 EU governments sent a head
of state, but Prague was unable to convince several key
leaders to attend. Missing from the talks were Britain’s
Gordon Brown, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, Spain’s Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero, and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy.
The draft statement that was produced reflects some
of the tensions within the EU over the future of relations
with its eastern neighbors. There is no mention of EU
membership for any of the six states, and the section on
visa liberalization contains the phrase “long-term goal.”
24
The Czech Republic had favored dropping the “Eastern”
name in front of “European Partnership,” but in the final
language, it stayed.
Barroso said the partnership will benefit both the EU
bloc as a whole, and individual members on a bilateral
basis.
"This is also a political initiative to serve the European
Union strategic interests, promoting political and economic
stability with the six partner countries to our east," he
said.
"This partnership provides our partner countries with
clear options for deepening their bilateral relations with
the European Union in all areas leading up to association
agreements including free trade as well as to more mobility
for the citizens," he added.
Belarus Protested
The new initiative comes after a year of unrest in many
eastern European countries. There was last August’s
Russian-Georgian war, this spring's riots in Moldova, and
continuing political and economic upheaval in Ukraine. In
January, energy supplies from Russia that transit Ukraine
on their way to Europe were disrupted by disputes that
have become all too familiar.
Although a delegation from Belarus attended the
summit, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka -- the man
known as “Europe’s last dictator” -- did not.
Nevertheless, about 200 protesters -- many of them
Belarusian political emigrants -- gathered in central Prague
as the summit opened to voice their opposition to Belarus’
inclusion in the partnership, according to the human rights
group Charter 97.
They carried posters that said, “Freedom to Political
Prisoners!” “No to Lukashenka in Europe!” and “Freedom
to Belarus!”
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 7, 2009
European Parliament Backs New
'Pragmatism' On Belarus
By Ulrich Speck
BRUSSELS -- The European Parliament has adopted a
resolution that outlines its support for a broader EU policy
of engagement with Belarus.
While it has no binding force, the resolution acts as a
useful barometer of where the EU, as an institution, stands
on Belarus.
And where it stands -- as opposed to the isolationism of
years past -- is in a place of pragmatic engagement.
As a clear sign of the new policy, EU officials have
extended the suspension of a travel ban and started highlevel talks with Minsk on issues like transport and energy.
Despite lingering concerns over the policies and comport
of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Brussels has also
included Belarus in its Eastern Partnership initiative,
which offers closer ties between the EU and six ex-Soviet
neighbors.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Speaking this week at a conference at the European
Parliament, Hugues Mingarelli, the European Commission's
deputy director-general for external relations, said the EU's
new pragmatic policy consists of a two-track approach -working with the democratic opposition and civil society
on the one hand, but also engaging the authorities on the
other.
"To be clear, I'm not saying that we should be complacent.
We have to provide maximum support to civil society and
the political opposition. We have to constantly remind the
Belarusian authorities that on the European continent,
there is no room for several practices that are in place, and
that are unacceptable," he said.
Dismal Rights Record
The resolution expresses support for the EU's new policy
of engagement, but it also voices concern about Belarus's
dismal human rights situation.
Dialogue between Minsk and Brussels, the resolution
says, "must be conditional on the lifting of restrictions on
freedom and cessation of violence against participants in
opposition protests and human rights activists."
It is now up to the government of Belarus to demonstrate
to the European Union and the European Parliament its
commitment in implementing change, and its willingness
to respect basic human rights and democratic freedoms.
The parliament also sets benchmarks for the next nine
months. The resolution calls on Minsk to "demonstrate
substantial progress" by reforming electoral legislation,
lifting restrictions on the distribution of independent print
media and freedom of association and assembly, and by
ending "the practice of politically motivated dismissals
from jobs and universities."
Hans-Gert Pottering, the president of the European
Parliament, welcomed the warming ties with Belarus
but pointed to continued repression of political activists
and politically motivated imprisonment, which he said
"remains a practice" in the country.
Pottering said the EU will closely monitor developments
in Belarus over the next nine months to see whether there
is real change.
"It is now up to the government of Belarus to demonstrate
to the European Union and the European Parliament its
commitment in implementing change, and its willingness
to respect basic human rights and democratic freedoms,"
Pottering said.
Unique Opportunity
If Minsk fulfills these criteria during the upcoming nine
months, the resolution says, it may be considered whether
to lift the travel ban permanently. If and when that stage
is reached, it adds, the EU should take measures to "speed
up the process of Belarus's reintegration into the European
family of democratic nations."
Minsk has a unique opportunity, Pottering says.
"This chance, which would be linked with increased
economic support by the European Union, cannot be
missed," he said. "On behalf of the European Parliament,
I express my strong hopes that the government of Belarus
will take this chance at face value."
25
The ultimate hope is that the EU's engagement tactic
will lead to the democratization of Belarus.
Jacek Protasiewicz, a Polish member of the European
Parliament and one of the authors of the resolution, says
engaging civil society is one way to open up the country.
Another is to convince the current political leadership that
they, too, can be part of the process.
"What we want to achieve is to convince those people
in power in Belarus that democracy is not against them,"
Protasiewicz said. "In a democratic country, there is also
room for them. And in a democratic country, like in
democratic Poland, the former regime people are also
accommodated; they are also part of the political and social
life."
To make progress on all both fronts, Protasiewicz said, is
possible "only when the policy of isolation will change into
one of engagement."
Others, however, are skeptical of the new approach.
Jan-Marinus Wiersma, a Socialist MEP from the
Netherlands, said there is no magic formula to dealing
with Belarus, and that the previous policy of isolation was
not without merit, because it forced Lukashenka to "create
an opening" himself, by making overtures and offers of
reform to the EU.
Little Has Changed
For Markus Meckel, a longtime observer of EU-Belarus
relations and deputy foreign policy spokesman for the
Social Democrats in the German Parliament, spring has not
yet reached Minsk.
Little has changed for the people in Belarus, he says.
So even as the EU engages the leadership in Minsk -- and
continues to contemplate whether to extend a controversial
invitation to Lukashenka to attend the May 7 launch of the
Eastern Partnership program -- it must do much more to
engage the rest of Belarusian society.
"If it's right to invite Lukashenka to Prague, then that also
means that we need to do something for the civil society
and for the democratic opposition quickly, in the short
term," Meckel said. "Not only once, but on a permanent
level."
Vladimir Senko, Belarus's EU ambassador, this week
praised the bloc for its new pragmatic policy of engagement.
The EU and Belarus are now on "a positive track," he said.
But he insisted that Minsk would only be interested in
cooperation as long as it takes place "on equal footing."
Belarus was not begging for cooperation, Senko said,
adding that the EU has "no direct leverage" to change the
political or economic situation in his country.
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 02, 2009
Quotes of Quarter
“The ban on import of 500 different types of dairy products
into Russia should be viewed as Moscow’s sanctions against
Belarus, and rather serious ones,”
as quoted on June 5 by VIACHASLAU NIKANAU, the president
of the fund Palityka, in an interview with Interfax.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
HISTORICAL DATES
June 14, 1900
Birthdate of Michas Zabejda-Sumicki, a famous
Belarusian opera singer. Lived and performed in Kharbin
(China), Milan, Warsaw, Prague.
July 7, 1887
Mark Chagall, one of the most significant painters and
graphic artists of the 20th century, was born in Viciebsk.
Between 1915 and 1917 he lived in St. Petersburg, Russia; after the Russian Revolution he was the director of the
Art Academy in Viciebsk from 1918 to 1919, and the art
director of the Moscow Jewish State Theater from 1919
to 1922. In 1923 he moved to France, where he spent the
rest of his life.
July 15, 1410
Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, one of the biggest in the Middle Ages. The German Teutonic Knights,
with West European mercenaries, were then decisively
defeated by an army commanded by the Polish king Jahajla
(Jagiello) and Litva’s Grand DukeVitaut, supported by
Czech Hussite and vassal Tartar contingents.
From Political Front Line To
Army Drudgery
Young Belarusian activists say they are being forced to do military
service because of their political views.
By Volha Lisichonak
MINSK | As the European Union continues to weigh the
advisability of inviting Belarusian President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka to a summit in Prague early next month,
activists in Belarus say Brussels should take a closer look at
a recent government tactic: using military conscription to
get rid of troublesome young oppositionists.
The charge comes amid a warming of relations between
Belarus and the EU as both sides pointedly offer compliments
to each other amid a new EU strategy of engagement.
European officials have praised Minsk’s efforts to meet
EU recommendations on some human rights issues, while
the Belarusian authorities commend their counterparts’
intentions to increase dialogue and promote cooperation.
Earlier this year, a senior Foreign Ministry official in the
Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency,
cited progress in the democratization of Belarus, including
a slackening in state repression of the media and a drop-off
in criminal cases launched against the political opposition.
On 16 March the EU decided to extend the lifting of a travel
ban on high Belarusian officials.
Young Front activists gave moral support to young men
who say they were forcibly conscripted into the army as a
punishment for political activism. Photo: mfront.net/
Activists, however, complain that a practice begun last
year, of quietly shipping off some of the most active young
democracy activists to the army, has only intensified.
According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, military
conscription has been used as a repressive measure
26
against many youth activists from the Belarusian Popular
Front (BPF), the Young Front, and other youth initiatives,
including several cases where health-related draft
deferments reportedly disappeared overnight.
A SPEEDY RECOVERY
One of the most prominent examples concerns Franak
Viachorka, a BPF activist and son of Vincuk Viachorka,
the first vice-chairman of the BPF, the oldest opposition
political party.
Back in June 2008, the military registration and enlistment
office of the Saviecki district in Minsk permanently
disqualified Viachorka from military service due to health
reasons. When a regional medical examination called into
doubt Viachorka’s unfitness for active service, he was
referred to a military hospital. The hospital then confirmed
his original medical tests, and he was issued a temporary
draft deferment until March 2009, citing the need for a
retina operation.
Despite that deferment until March, on 8 January
the young activist was detained, taken to the military
registration and enlistment office in Minsk, and after that
sent to a military hospital. Surprisingly, the diagnoses
made at the hospital contradicted those he had earlier
received. “It looks like the atmosphere of the place cured
me,” Viachorka joked to the press.
As Viachorka said later, he was escorted from the
hospital in handcuffs on the morning of 16 January.
At first, the authorities tried to serve him with a draft
notice, but Viachorka persistently demanded the right
to review his medical tests and refused to go back to the
military registration office without seeing the results.
After a conversation among several officers, including the
military commissar of the Saviecki district, four unknown
people burst into the ward, pinned Viachorka down and
handcuffed him.
Viachorka says he was then taken to the registration
office in a minibus with black blinds. Once there, things
moved rapidly. According to Viachorka, the unidentified
men acted as his escorts even inside the registration office,
issuing orders to those working there. An induction
commission met quickly and found Viachorka to be ablebodied and fit for service. “They were going to send me to
the military unit immediately. But I said I was going to sue
them in court,” Viachorka said. The commission conferred
and granted him a 10-day deferment until 26 January.
Calling his conscription politically motivated, Viachorka
filed complaints to the courts regarding the violation
of his rights by military registration officers and staff
of the military hospital, as well as a formal complaint to
the prosecutor’s office over his violent removal from the
hospital. In interviews with the press, he cited his work
in the BPF as the reason for everything that has befallen
him over the past year – besides his forced conscription,
he was kicked out of Belarusian State University despite
his high marks. “The authorities use military conscription
to neutralize the most active members of the democratic
opposition,” Viachorka told the Nasha Niva weekly
newspaper.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
All those moves proved in vain. On 28 January, several
individuals, again unidentified, brought Viachorka in
handcuffs to the Baranavichy Military Radio Technological
Division, where he has been carrying out military duties,
according to news reports.
A TROUBLESOME YOUNG RECRUIT
A similar fate met one of the leaders of the Young Front,
the largest pro-democracy youth organization. The group
is legally registered in the Czech Republic after repeated
refusals by the authorities in Belarus to provide legal status
in the country. Eighteen-year-old Ivan Shyla, the group’s
vice chairman, received a draft deferment last summer due
to health reasons. His situation then developed under the
same scenario that Franak Viachorka experienced, except
that at first Shyla didn’t publicize his dealings with the
military registration office because he did not suspect any
political motivation.
Ivan Shyla
“I was detained and escorted to the military registration
office while I was on my way there,” he wrote on his blog.
“Then a Belarusian State TV team and KGB officers came and
consulted with the induction commission. I then witnessed
as doctors resolved contentious issues within a mere few
minutes.” According to Shyla, the induction commission
met to make a decision on his case before they even received
the results of his medical examination. His military service
began at the end of January.
“During liberalization, public repression is being replaced
by other, quite out-of-the-norm forms of oppression. It
doesn’t change their repressive nature, but it does hide them
and make them appear more legally reasonable. I think it is
‘politically-motivated’ conscription,” Shyla wrote.
Again similar to Viachorka, Shyla had problems in school
that he ascribed to his political activity. He was expelled
from high school just before his last exam in June 2008.
Half a year later, Education Minister Alexandr Radkov
told the press, “He had to pass an exam the next day, but
he was distributing leaflets around the city.” Shyla’s case
drew a wide response in his native city of Salihorsk and his
head teacher resigned in protest against Shyla’s expulsion.
Eventually, Shyla received invitations from Estonia, Poland,
and other countries to complete his studies abroad.
Shyla, however, decided to stay in Belarus, but military
service might now derail his hopes of finishing high school
in the near future. “It is very important for me to complete
my education, to finish school,” he said at a press conference.
“Definitely, army service will disturb my plans … To pass
27
exams without attending classes is possible only in May
and I am supposed to return from the army in June. It’ll be
purely the will and mood of the commander of the military
unit I am sent to whether to let me to go and pass my exams
or not.”
COUNTERING THE STATE MEDIA
Both Viachorka and Shyla say they would like to be
examined by an independent medical commission and
will serve in the army if found fit for service. They want
this commission to be formed by independent doctors,
experts who will not be influenced by the Ministry of
Defense and special services. The young activists insist
that they are protesting not against conscription itself, but
against flagrant violations during its process, knowing they
must tread lightly on this delicate issue. Belarusian state
television has broadcast several spots on the pair recently.
The general impression made by these reports is that these
young activists are weaklings trying to evade conscription
by using supposed human rights violations as a cover.
But the activists argue that to agree with their conscription
is to agree with the unlawful actions of the authorities.
“In a country without rules it is impossible to follow
them,” Shyla said on his blog. “Being a member of the Young
Front for years I have realized that the law can be interpreted
differently in accordance with political expedience. Rules can
be violated by those who demand that others follow them.
This is true for all spheres of public life. There is no place for
equality and justice guaranteed by the constitution.”
Some in Europe are watching. Members of the European
Parliament noted the issue of forced conscription during
a 2 April discussion of a resolution on engaging with the
Belarusian regime. Vytautas Landsbergis, a parliamentary
deputy and former head of state of Lithuania, made one
of the strongest statements, citing the Viachorka case and
saying conscription in this instance was “tantamount to statepracticed hostage-taking.” Landsbergis said the authorities
could use the son’s situation to threaten his father: “‘Look,
be calm in your position because your son is in our army
and something may happen to him.’ ”
Vincuk Viachorka recently pledged to appeal a military
court decision that ruled his son’s conscription was legal,
the website Charter 97 reported. “The head of the cardiology
department of the military hospital publicly admitted that
Franak doesn’t quality for military service in accordance
with the conclusion of the 10th municipal hospital,” he
said.
In the meantime, neither Shyla nor Franak Viachorka have
been able to meet their families. Shyla has been taken into his
division’s medical unit because of tonsillitis, but he hasn’t
received proper medical treatment, Nasa Niva reported. He
also was not allowed to meet his parents, because his unit is
officially quarantined. Viachorka’s parents received the same
reason for their inability to meet their son. In addition, the
only phone in his unit is broken and hasn’t been repaired.
Volha Lisichonak is a freelance journalist based in Minsk.
Source: TransitionsOnLine, 17 April 2009
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Protests Planned Against Belarus
Nuclear Plant
By David Marples
Plans are underway for the annual Chernobyl Path March
in Minsk on April 26, but this year they will be accompanied
by similar demonstrations in the contaminated zone and
in Astravets, the location chosen earlier this year for the
construction of a new nuclear power plant in Belarus.
Earlier, two sites in Mahilou region appeared to be the
favored locations for the station, but evidently they were
rejected because one suffered from unstable soil conditions
and the other might have "tectonic faults." An equally
viable reason -that the Mahilou region is within the zone
contaminated by the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl,
was not discussed. In turn, a widespread criticism of the
Astravets site, that it suffered a 7.0 magnitude earthquake
in 1907, was dismissed by an expert from the prospecting
company Belhealohiya (Belarus Geology), Volha Boyeva,
who said that the proposed location is some 15 miles to the
north of the rupture (Belapan, March 12).
In December 2008, the decision to use the Astravets
site was announced by First Deputy Premier Uladzimie
Syamashka, who said that work on the construction of
houses for the builders would commence on January 19,
2009 and on the plant itself two days later. The station is
to be a third generation water-pressurized plant, which is
usually referred to by its Russian acronym VVER (www.
charter97.org, Dec 19).
The current site is close to the villages of Mikhalishki
and Hoza in Hrodna region, near the Lithuanian border
and only 20 miles from the capital Vilnius. As news about
the new location circulated last November, a steering
committee was formed to create a public initiative entitled
"The Astravets Nuclear Power Plant is a Crime" (ANPPC),
headed by two locals, Ivan Kruk and Mikalai Ulasevich.
They were reportedly refused permission to hold a public
meeting in Astravets cinema and concert hall. Instead,
on March 3, local officials held a partially closed meeting
with experts, doctors, state officials, and media called
"Construction of the Nuclear Power Plant in the Republic
of Belarus -Security and Reliability," and opponents were
not permitted to voice their opinions (Vyasna, April 9).
In mid-April, Ulasevich held a press conference in
Minsk, at which he declared that the building of the station
was not a civic decision, but rather a military-political one.
He stated also that local authorities recently searched his
apartment, as well as those of other activists opposing the
construction, (Vyasna, April 14). According to one source,
the district authorities sent out bogus leaflets on behalf of
the "United Gay Party" purporting to come from ANPCC,
ostensibly in the belief that such an agency would be
universally condemned by the public (Bellona, March 16).
A protest was also held in the city of Salihorsk by several
young men, who posed as mutants and handed out
literature, alongside a poster with the slogan "No to new
Chernobyls" (www.charter97.org, April 15).
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has the final decision
on both the location and acceptance of the project. Despite
28
the current financial difficulties facing Belarus, and the
daunting costs of completing the station estimated at 4.5
to 5 billion Euros (Narodnaya Volya, April 15), it is to go
ahead as planned. It will comprise two 1,000-megawatt
reactors in its first phase scheduled for completion by 2016
(reactor one) and 2018 (reactor two), Lukashenka remarked
that Russia was prepared to issue its neighbor a loan for the
project and referred to a recent opinion poll of the Institute
of Sociology that revealed that 60 percent of Belarusians
support the project (Belarusian Telegraph Agency, April 7).
The actual figure was 54.8 percent (www.minenergo.gov.
by, Dec 20).
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Energy, the
country will sign an agreement with Russia for the joint
construction of the Astravets station, but it is plausible
that a foreign engineering company will be employed to
draw up the details (Belarusian Telegraph Agency, April
13). Russian ambassador to Belarus, Aleksandr Surikov, in
a recent interview with the news agency Belapan, stated
that Russia supports the idea of the station, and he also
remarked that there would be an opportunity to expand the
plant beyond its initial size (Narodnaya Volya, April 15).
The plans are causing some anxiety in several quarters.
Lithuania's Foreign Minister, Vigaudas Ushatskas,
expressed concern that the plant was so close to the
border with his country (Bellona, March 16). Lithuania's
Ignalina nuclear plant, which is a graphite-moderated
RBMK, is slowly being phased out, while the location is
in an environmentally clean zone close to several nature
reserves.
The third issue is the projected costs and Belarus'
inability to pay them. In essence, the project will be almost
entirely Russian in operation, including fuel and reactors,
as well as potential ownership if the loans are ever recalled.
It would add to the Russian economic interventions in
Belarus, which include the project "Minsk City" at a cost
of $4.5 billion and the presence of subsidiaries of seven
Russian banks (Narodnaya Volya, April 15).
Finally, there is a more general problem of resorting to
nuclear power in the country most affected by the Chernobyl
disaster. About one fifth of Belarus' residents inhabit areas
contaminated by that accident, but the government has
adamantly maintained that the land is safe to cultivate. The
new project in Astravets has given new significance to the
Chernobyl anniversary in Belarus.
Source: Jamestown Foundation, Eurasia Daily Monitor,
Volume: 6 Issue: 75, April 20, 2009
Quotes of Quarter
“I am personally warning you, Siarhei Siarheevich
(Premier Sidorski) and (Finance Minister) Prakapovich
… that as of today a new time has come. If you don’t
get results in Moscow – you don’t need to bow, whine
and weep. We’ll find better luck in other parts of the
planet.”
LUKASHENKA harangued his ministers at a cabinet
meeting on May 29.
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
Caucasus Impacts
Russia-Belarus Relations
By Paul Goble
Vienna, May 26 – Minsk’s latest refusal to recognize
Abkhazia and South Ossetia and even more the suggestion
by some officials there that Moscow should “compensate”
the Belarusian government to get it to take that step reflect
underlying problems in the relationship of the two Slavic
countries, according to a leading Moscow analyst.
In an essay posted online today, Sergey Markedonov
argues that “the basic problem in Russian-Belarusian
relations” is that the two sides entered into “the ‘unification’
process” for entirely different reasons, something that has
become increasingly obvious and increasingly annoying
to Moscow (www.polit.ru/author/2009/05/26/realizm.
html).
For Moscow, the Moscow specialist on ethnic relations
in and among the post-Soviet states insists, the Union
of the Russian Federation and Belarus was never more
than “an ideological project,” something that represented
either a move away from “the Belovezhskaya complex” or,
especially under Vladimir Putin, yet another “sublimation
of Soviet nostalgia.”
But for Minsk, the entire process of a “brotherhood
of Slavic states” was completely pragmatic, a policy
predicated on the ability of Belarus to make use of Russian
resources “for the development of [its own] national model
of economics and politics” and thus reinforcing its national
independence.
Such “a geopolitical dialectic,” Markedonov continues,
was based on the reality that “in Moscow, no one ever
considered Minsk an equal partner and ally.” Russian
officials rarely consulted with their Belarusian counterparts,
and consequently, Alyaksandr Lukashenka was able to
realize his own version of the Sinatra doctrine – “I did it
my way.”
That approach worked very much to his own advantage.
On the one hand, it allowed the Belarusian leader to get
aid from Russia while not ignoring his country’s location
at the edge of Europe. And on the other, it helped him
domestically where any concession to Moscow is likely to
be seen as undermining Belarusian independence.
And those differences help to explain why in the words
of Russian political scientist Andrey Suzdaltsev the union
of the two countries is “such a strange formation,” lacking
“a shield, a flag, a president and government, territory,
citizenship, force and fiscal agencies, borders and so on”
and “not being a subject of international law or a member
of the UN.”
Despite that, Markedonov continues, Moscow expected
Belarus to follow its lead in extending diplomatic
recognition to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, given that
it is “not simply a strategic partner like Azerbaijan or a
strategic ally like Armenia or Kazakhstan” but rather “part
of a common Union state.”
Since last August, however, Moscow’s expectations
29
for Belarus have not been met, and Markedonov strongly
suggests that both because of the underlying tensions in
the relationship and because of Moscow’s own evolution
in thinking about Abkhazia and South Ossetia, they are not
going to be anytime soon.
During Russia’s war with Georgia, Belarus ostentatiously
refused to say anything about “’a genocide’ or about a
‘humanitarian catastrophe.’” And after the guns fell silent,
Minsk continually put off extending recognition to the two
breakaway republics, offering one implausible excuse after
another, at least from Moscow’s point of view.
Over time, he continues, Russian officials have made
fewer such predictions, not only because they have proven
wrong in the past but also because Moscow’s own view
on Abkhazia and South Ossetia has changed. Initially, it
hoped that perhaps as many as 15 countries would follow
its lead, but now some in Moscow have revised their view
of such a development.
On the one hand, Russian officials recognize that they
can exert far more control of the situation in both places if
they are the only foreign embassy and hence only foreign
support of these two states. And on the other, no one in
the Russian hierarchy is interested in attracting attention to
Moscow’s failure to achieve what it said were its goals.
But quite clearly, the failure of Belarus to follow
Moscow on this rankles. And now that some Belarusian
parliamentarians have suggested Moscow should
“compensate” Minsk for taking such a step, at least some
in the Russian capital may revisit the question of a “union
state” that to date has brought Moscow few benefits.
Russia Struggles to Sustain
Alliance with Belarus
By Sergei Blagov
Russia's relationship with its former closest ally Belarus,
has reached a new low point following a bitter dispute.
Moscow has apparently struggled to remain on good
terms with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka
-described by some as Europe's last dictator. Meanwhile,
although both countries have attempted to form a "union
state," Lukashenka bluntly told his government that they
must no longer rely upon Russia. The session of the council
of ministers of the Russia-Belarus union state held in Minsk
on May 28, proved to be a major disappointment for both
sides.
Russian officials were keen to appease the authoritarian
Belarusian leader. "Russia is always ready to support
Belarus," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after talks
in Minsk with his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Sidorsky
and President Lukashenka. Russia will continue to provide
financial support to Belarus, he told a news conference.
Putin said that the Russian gas giant Gazprom had issued
advance payments for gas transit via Belarus until October
this year (www.belta.by, Interfax, ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti,
May 28).
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
After the talks, Sidorsky urged Moscow to lift all
restrictions on Belarusian exports into Russia. He argued
that Belarus accounts for only 4 percent of Russia's imports
-thus posing no threat to Russian manufacturers. Sidorsky
also said that in the first quarter of 2009 Russia had a
sizable trade surplus with Belarus (www.belta.by, Interfax,
May 28).
On May 28, Russia and Belarus signed agreements on
the peaceful use of nuclear energy and land lease issues.
On February 3, the supreme state council of the union state
adopted a joint action plan, designed to limit the adverse
repercussions of the financial crisis. In March, Russia
disbursed the second $500 million installment of the $2
billion Russian loan, following the $1 billion granted in
November 2008.
The Russian government press-service said in a
statement before the meeting that Moscow "prioritized
multi-faceted integration and cooperation with Belarus in
its CIS policies." However, on May 22, Lukashenka accused
Moscow of sabotaging the union state arrangements: "The
presidents make decisions but the Russian government
fails all of them," he argued. "They accuse us of cooperating
with the West, but we have no other option," Lukashenka
protested (Interfax, May 28).
Yet in the wake of the talks on May 28, Lukashenka
intensified his verbal assault on Russian policies. On
May 29, Lukashenka ordered the government to end
"weeping, bowing and begging" to Russia (EDM, June 1).
He also suggested that no country will be permitted to
pressure Belarus. Moreover, he warned against what he
described as attempts "to pocket" Belarus (www.belta.by,
Interfax, ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, May 29). Lukashenka's
rhetoric was apparently in response to remarks made by
the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and
the Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin. On May 28, Kudrin
warned that Belarus might become insolvent by the end
of this year, as the country's currency reserves became
further depleted. He said the disbursement of the last $500
million installment of a $2 billion Russian loan will depend
on Belarusian economic policies, adding that Minsk had
refused to accept the $500 million loan in Russian rubles
(Interfax, May 28).
Not surprisingly, Belarusian officials dismissed Kudrin's
remarks. On May 29, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister
Andrei Kobyakov insisted the country will be able to repay
its debt. Its debt remains below 14 percent of the country's
GDP, he argued. Kobyakov also characterized Kudrin's
statements as an "exaggeration" (Interfax, ITAR-TASS, May
29).
Russian officials also tried to repair the damage inflicted
by Kudrin's remarks. Notably, Putin described Kudrin's
"extreme assessment" as "inappropriate" (Interfax, ITARTASS, RIA Novosti, May 28). However, Putin's explanation
was not received well amongst the Belarusian government.
On May 29, Lukashenka accused Kudrin of seeking to
spread panic in Belarus and claimed that Kudrin's "tirade"
was pre-arranged with Putin (www.belta.by, Interfax, May
29). In response, Shuvalov suggested settling bilateral
differences "calmly," while the speaker of the Russian Duma
Boris Gryzlov said there were no substantial disputes
30
between the countries (ITAR-TASS, May 29). Both sides
must not allow mutual trust to be undermined using the
economic crisis as a pretext, he said (Interfax, May 29).
Russian lawmakers proved less diplomatic. Alexey
Ostrovsky, the head of the Duma's CIS committee, argued
that Lukashenka was unlikely to secure Western backing
and had no other viable option but to continue in talks
with Moscow (Interfax, May 29). Vadim Gustov, the head
of the CIS committee of the federation council (the upper
house of parliament) described Lukashenka's criticism as a
"short-sighted" attempt to exert pressure on Russia. Another
lawmaker, Oganes Oganyan, dismissed Lukashenka's
statements as "blackmail and provocation" (Interfax, May
29).
Despite these apparent bilateral disagreements, Russian
officials still hailed the strength of military ties between
Moscow and Minsk. On May 29, Konstantin Biryulin, the
deputy head of the Russian service on military-technical
cooperation, noted a "positive" experience in the preferential
export of Russian arms to Belarus. He said that among the
CSTO states, Belarus remains the main buyer of Russian
weapons at domestic prices (Interfax, May 29). Russia has
significant security interests in Belarus. According to one
bilateral agreement, the Russian military enjoys the use an
early warning radar hub in Baranovichi free of charge until
2020.
The authoritarian Lukashenka first swept to victory in
1994 based on his promise to reunite Belarus with Russia. In
1997, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Lukashenko
signed a treaty pledging the formation of a union with its
neighbor. Russia and Belarus also agreed to introduce a
single currency and a shared system of taxation by 1999,
but these agreements were not implemented. For several
years, cheap Russian energy supplies to Belarus have
proven instrumental in sustaining Lukashenka's regime while most of the union state pledges only remain on paper.
The latest spat with Minsk indicates Russian difficulties
in sustaining its close ties with Belarus. Following
Lukashenka's calls not to rely on Russia, it remains to be
seen whether Moscow and Minsk might continue pursuing
their "union state" policy.
Source: Jamestown Foundation, Eurasia Daily Monitor,
Vol. 6, Issue 105, June 2, 2009
MEDIA WATCH
‘Milk War’ Strains Russia-Belarus Ties
By Ellen Barry
MOSCOW — Furious over a Russian ban on imported Belarusian
milk products, the president of Belarus on Sunday boycotted a
planned summit meeåting of post-Soviet states whose centerpiece
was the start of a joint military force formed by Russia and four
of its closest allies.
As the so-called milk war with Moscow moved into its second
week, the president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, released a statement
saying that the ban “effectively forces Belarusians to their knees”
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
and that unless it is dropped, going ahead with the planned
military force would be a “mockery of common sense.”
Mr. Lukashenko’s abrupt no-show is bound to irritate Moscow,
which was hoping to consolidate ties with its neighbors and end
their flirtation with Western allies. President Dmitri A. Medvedev
hastily assumed the presidency of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization, which Belarus was scheduled to take over on
Sunday, and inaugurated the military union in Moscow over Mr.
Lukashenko’s protests. ....
The collective security agreement — which some see as an
eventual counterweight to NATO — was signed by the leaders
of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. It
was not signed by Uzbekistan, which has raised objections to
some provisions, or Belarus. Andrei Popov, a spokesman for
Belarus’ Foreign Ministry, told the Interfax news agency that the
agreement was not valid because there was no consensus among
members....
While Russian officials said the ban had no political overtones,
Belarusian politicians have said they are being punished for
defying Russian orders.
One outstanding issue is Belarus’ refusal, so far, to formally
recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway enclaves
of Georgia, whose independence so far has been recognized by
only Russia and Nicaragua. In an interview with the BelTA news
agency earlier this month, Mr. Lukashenko said Russian officials
made a $500 million loan contingent on recognition — something
Russian officials deny.
Belarus has long been financially dependent on Russia, as
Mr. Medvedev pointed out dryly in his remarks on Sunday,
but that relationship, too, is under strain. In late May, Russia’s
finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, withheld the $500 million, the
last installment of a $2 billion loan, warning that the country
could face default by the end of this year unless it overhauls its
economic policy. Mr. Lukashenko reacted angrily.
“If it’s not working out with Russia, let’s not bow down, let’s
not whine and weep,” he told a gathering of economic officials
the next day, BelTA reported. “Let’s look for our happiness in a
different part of the planet.”
Source: Excerpts from an article in The New York Times, June
15, 2009
An (Un)wanted Guest
By David J. Kramer, Irina Krasouskaya
The EU’s counterproductive attempt to reach out to Europe’s last
dictator.
Easing international pressure on Aleksandr Lukashenko could
allow him to continue human rights abuses.
The European Union finds itself in an awkward position at
the moment: hoping that an invited guest finds reason to stay
away. Last week, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg,
acting on behalf of the EU, invited Aleksandr Lukashenko,
the president of Belarus, to a May 7 summit in Prague to
formally launch the EU’s Eastern Partnership with six eastern
neighbors: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine,
and Belarus. Even if Lukashenko, often described as Europe’s
last dictator, declines the invitation and sends someone in
his stead, the invitation represents Lukashenko’s wholly
undeserved return to the international stage, which is a
serious setback for the promotion of political liberalization
and human rights in Belarus.
31
In a recently released report, the U.S. State Department
notes that the Belarusian government's human rights record
last year "remained very poor" with "frequent serious abuses"
against NGOs, political parties, and opposition activists.
The government has yet to account for politically motivated
disappearances, including the late husband of one of the
authors of this article. Lukashenko has "consolidated his
power over all institutions and undermined the rule of law
through authoritarian means, manipulated elections, and
arbitrary decrees,” the report says.
What has the policy of easing pressure on Lukashenko
produced? Mostly negative results. The Belarusian
government has rejected other independent media requests for
distribution and refused registration to several other NGOs and
trade unions. New criminal cases have been brought against a
number of opposition activists, including previously released
political prisoners, and some have been rearrested. Another
previously released political prisoner, Artur Finkevich, was
abducted and beaten last December, while activist Artyom
Dubski reportedly was beaten in jail after being detained
two months ago. Security forces have violently responded to
several peaceful demonstrations, and several youth activists
have been forcibly drafted into the military. The Lukashenko
regime, in other words, continues to engage in human rights
abuses even as relations with the West warm up.
The U.S. Embassy in Minsk has not been allowed to return
to its previous staffing levels and still is not permitted an
ambassador. In addition, Belarusian authorities continue to
deny proper medical treatment and access to an imprisoned
U.S. citizen arrested and convicted last year in a secret trial on
suspect charges. And the Belarusian parliament holds open
the possibility of recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
separatist regions in Georgia that Russia recognized last year.
The EU’s 2006 plan of action outlined 12 steps in the area
of human rights Minsk needed to take for normalization of
relations, yet most of these remain woefully incomplete and
recent developments in Belarus run in the opposite direction.
Worse, the 2006 plan seems to have been abandoned by the
EU itself. The strange half-measure of inviting Lukashenko
to Prague with fingers crossed that he won’t come is neither
smart engagement nor principled policy.
(Editor’s note: Belarus was represented by two ministers)
David J. Kramer was most recently assistant secretary of state
for democracy, human rights and labor and, before that, a deputy
assistant secretary of state responsible for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus,
and Moldova, in the George W. Bush administration. Irina
Krasovskaya is president of the We Remember Foundation.
Source: Excerpts from http://www.foreignpolicy.com, April
2009
Europe Betrays Its Mission in Prague
By Borut Grgic
The much-anticipated Prague Summit between the
European Union and our eastern partners was a flop. The
eastern partnership declaration published last Thursday is
not worth the paper it was printed on.
The EU has once again taken a bold proposal -- initially
designed by Sweden and Poland -- and turned it into seven
pages of ramble. It was a sad day for all. The EU is clearly
BELARUSIAN REVIEW
Summer 2009
without good ideas and without the bold leadership
necessary to do what is needed in the east. The countries
invited to the summit -- Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus,
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan -- are all European. Yes,
they are also Caucasian, Caspian, and Black Sea nations,
but Europeans nonetheless. So why was a membership
concept for these countries missing from the document?
Strategic thinking was never a European forte. American
think-tankers poke fun at their European counterparts for
superbly managing day-to-day affairs but never quite
getting the big picture.
In Prague we definitely missed the big picture.
The EU is a project in the making, which is why we have
an enlargement policy, which has been the single best tool
for reuniting the Continent. It has turned Europe into the
biggest market in the world, and it has injected dynamism
into the European economy. Now, it seems, someone wants
to reverse this progress and halt enlargement.
... Europe owes a new draft document to its eastern
partners spelling out an integrated approach aimed at
creating the Europe of the 21st century: whole, united and
free.
We began this project in the 1940s, shortly after the end
of World War II. A major breakthrough was achieved in the
1990s with the fall of the Iron Curtain, which then led to
the big bang enlargement -- the first of its kind -- in 2003,
when 10 central and east European states joined the EU.
Our next job is to finish this story, which means welcoming
into Europe Turkey and the Balkan and eastern countries.
Mr. Grgic is an independent investor in the Balkans and the
Caucasus, and the founder of the Institute for Strategic Studies.
Source: «The Wall Street Journal» — excerpts from an
article, May 12, 2009.
LETTERS
Dear Editor:
I have been a subscriber of Belarusian Review for several
years now. I studied Russian at Georgetown University and became acquainted with Belarus when I taught English in Hrodna
from 1995-1996 through a program called Project Harmony. I
completed an MA in Russian and East European Studies at Stanford University in 2001. I am currently a stay-at-home mom and
depend on Belarusian Review to keep me up-to-date with events
in Belarus.
In the last winter edition, you mentioned that there was a need
for fresh forces for the magazine. Since I am not currently affiliated
with a university, I have limited access to academic resources for
fact-checking and other research. However, I would be more than
happy to help out in other ways if possible. I would be happy to
edit articles in English, particularly articles that have already been
translated from Russian or Belarusan into English, or other tasks
that can be managed on-line and with my limited free time.
I thank you for your hard work on the magazine.
Maria Kiehn ____
32
Dear Maria,
We have already taken advantage in this issue of your offer to
help out. Thank you for speedily editing two articles that were
translated by a non-native English speaker.
The Editor
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